Mothers' Day
by purple83
Summary: This is mostly family fluff about the kids and their mothers. It will include flashbacks.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This includes flashbacks. All of them are in italics to make it easier to read.**

Brandon grabbed Jude's shoulder as he walked to the doorway of his older brother's room. "Jesus in already here. Have you seen the girls?"

Jude nodded. "Callie and Mariana are downstairs talking to Mama. They are not in trouble or anything, just helping with dinner. Is this going to talk a long time?"

"I am not sure…. It depends on you all. Go on in while I go see if I can get the girls away from Lena. We will get started once we are all there."

Jude nodded again and went into Brandon's room as Brandon went down the stairs to find his sisters. Indeed, Marianna and Callie were in the kitchen with Lena. Jude was correct that they were not in trouble, rather all three were talking and laughing. It seemed like it might be difficult and perhaps unkind to convince Lena that the girls needed to go upstairs with him.

Brandon entered the kitchen and sort of stood there waiting to be noticed. He cleared his throat loudly after a few seconds. Lena looked up and saw him. "Hey B! Dinner will be ready in a bit. Do you need something?"

"Well…" Brandon tried to think of an excuse to get the girls to go back upstairs with him.

"Oh, Brandon, we were going to work together on our history assignment tonight, weren't we?" Callie interrupted. "Lena, is it okay if I go work with Brandon until dinner?"

Lena looked at Callie with some uncertainty and maybe a little disappointment, "Of course, Sweetheart. I can handle things from here. Go get your homework finished."

Callie went over and hugged Lena. "Thanks, Lena! We will do this again sometime soon!"

Lena genuinely smiled then as she kissed her daughter's head. "Of course we can do this again sometime. I love you, Cals!" Then she looked over at Mariana who was also seeming to edge out of the room. "You can go to, Miss Thing. I will call you guys when dinner is ready."

Mariana ran up the stairs with Brandon and Callie. All of them entered Brandon's room. Jude and Jesus were already on Brandon's bed. The girls sat on the floor and Brandon sat on his piano bench. "Okay, as you guys know, Mother's Day is next week. This is Callie and Jude's first Mother's Day here, but the rest of us have had a few. As children with two moms, this is a huge day for us. We need some ideas. Anyone have one?"

"I haven't really celebrated Mother's Day in years… Jude and I are just lucky to be here. Maybe it would help if you guys told us about some in the past?"

"Good point. I have celebrated every year with my mom, but I guess most of our tradition started on Lena's first Mother's Day. My mom met Lena when she was looking for a school for me to attend Kindergarten. After the divorce, they started dating. By Mother's Day, we had bought this house and moved in all together…..

_Six year old Brandon finished up the card he had made for his mom. It was perfect, he decided. Then, he started thinking. He knew that Stef was his mother and Mike was his father. This only left Lena that he was unsure about. Ever since they moved in together, Lena was the one who read with him every night, played with him until his mom got home from work, and made him most meals. Recently, it was even Lena that convinced his mom to allow him to sleep in their room after he had a nightmare. _

_Lena had also brought him to school and walked him to his classroom every day. She was the one who kissed him good bye as he entered the room and the one who came back for him at the end of the day. Even the other kids in Brandon's class had ask him if Lena was his mother. Brandon always said no, but he noticed that when it was asked in front of Lena she always looked a little sad. _

_These thoughts brought him back to his present predicament. He had made a card for his mom and he knew that he would do something similar for his dad on Father's Day. Lena did not seem to have a day. Then, he noticed that his best friend, Aiden, had two cards. _

_So Brandon leaned in close to whisper to his friend, "Pst, Aiden, why do you have two papers?"_

_ "__I have two people to make cards for. I have my mama who lives with my dad and me and I see every day. I also have my first mom who grew me in her tummy. She lives far away, but my mama will help me mail her the card."_

_ "__You have a mom and a mama?" Brandon pondered aloud as his friend nodded. "And they are both mothers so they both get to celebrate Mother's Day?" Aiden nodded again. "But your mama isn't your first mom and it is okay…"_

_Brandon raised his hand high in the air to get his teacher's attention. She walked over to him quickly. "Do you need something, Brandon?"_

_ "__I need another piece of paper."_

_ "__Did you mess up on your card for your mom? We might be able to fix it without starting all the way over…"_

_ "__No, I need another piece of paper because I need to make two cards. This one is for my mom. Now, I need a piece of pink paper to make a card for my mama." _

_Brandon's teacher smiled at him. She had worked with Lena for several years and knew her current situation well. "Of course, Brandon, I am not sure why I didn't think of that. I know your mama would love to have a Mother's Day card from you."_

"And she did love the card. Lena still has it in the scrapbook about our first year together. It is also how she got the name, Mama." Brandon finished simply.

Mariana and Jesus had heard that story before, but it was new to Callie and Jude. "So, should we make cards for them? Is that what you do every year?" Jude asked clearly confused.

"A card is a nice start most of us made cards every year when we were little, but so far every year has been different. The year before the twins Mom and Lena both took me shopping separately. I picked the same necklace for both of them. They were both surprised, but happy. That idea worked when I was seven… Now Moms say, or rather Lena says, they want our gifts to be from our hearts and not store bought. We are all older and that makes it harder."

"If you don't make cards every year anymore, what else have you tried?" Callie asked also a little confused about gifts from the heart.

"I remember our first Mother's Day!" Mariana spoke up to share. "We made cards at school and come up with the best way to give them to Moms. We all got up super early in the morning…."

_The three kids crept quietly down the stairs. Brandon was eight and the self-appointed leader as the oldest. "Moms don't want either of you two touching the stove, so only I get to use it."_

_ "__Mama said none of us could touch it. How come you get to do it and we can't?" Jesus questioned crossing his arms across his chest. "Besides, I have used a stove before and I am good at it."_

_ "__Maybe no one has to use the stove?" Mariana spoke up quietly. "I don't want to get in trouble…"_

_ "__How can we made breakfast with a stove, Mariana?" Brandon questioned rolling his eyes. "Mama cooks pancakes, eggs, and bacon all on the stove. I get to use it because I am the biggest brother. You two can stir the pancakes."_

_Reluctantly, the twins agreed to this plan. All three kids had helped Lena make pancakes, but none had ever actually made pancakes before. They all agreed that pancakes had flour in them. Brandon remembered cracking eggs to put in the mixture he only had a few issues cracking one of the three eggs he put in. Jesus added some sugar and Mariana knew that Lena loved adding blue berries. The batter had too many dry ingredients so Brandon poured in some water. _

_ "__B, I am not sure this is going to work. I am stirring, but it doesn't feel like with Mama makes pancakes."_

_ "__Just keep stirring, Mari. I need to get the stove turned on and get out a pan." Brandon found a frying pan and put it on the already turned on stove. Jesus also thought the pancakes looked wrong, so while Brandon was busy, he added some orange juice and peanut butter. Mariana continued stirring even though she certainly knew the last two ingredients didn't seem right._

_Brandon got the mixture and started pouring it into the pan. He noticed right away that it spread out a little faster than he was expecting. "The batter is too thin." He announced. "We need to add more flour."_

_Jesus grabbed the sugar container instead and poured more into the batter. Mariana put in a little more flour as Brandon suggested. Pretty soon they smelled something burning. Brandon could not make the spatula flip the pancake it is was stuck down to the bottom of the pan. He finally used a fork to pry it off the bottom. It chibbled into tiny pieces instead of staying as one pancake. Regardless, Brandon dumped it onto a plate. _

_Upon pouring the batter on for the next pancake, Brandon realized it was too thick. Instead of spreading out, the batter clumped. It was easier to flip, though, so Brandon decided it would probably be okay. These pancakes also looked funny, but they were soon finished and put onto the plates. _

_Next, Mariana got the bacon out of the freezer and Brandon put it in the pan to cook. He was unsure how long it should be there and he wanted to makes sure that it did not burn. After a few minutes he put it on the plates. Jesus got out the eggs and handed them to Brandon to crack into the pan. A little bit of shell got into the eggs, but Brandon figured that it wouldn't matter much (just as it hadn't with the pancakes). After the eggs cooked on one side, Brandon put them on the plate._

_Jesus had become bored while Brandon was cooking and Mariana was decorating a tray to serve breakfast. His impulsivity got the better of him and soon he found that the flour on the floor made a slick spot. Soon, he was adding more floor to the kitchen floor and sliding all the way across on his feet. Then, he decided it would be more fun on his knees… By the time the food was done, he was covered in flour and the sack was empty. _

_Mariana carefully put the plates of food onto the tray with the cards. Brandon poured two cups of milk to add and set them down near the plates. Mariana picked up the tray to take to their mothers. On her second step, she slipped on the flour and the tray crashed down to the floor spilling the milk and food on the floor. She immediately started to cry._

_ "__Mari, don't cry." Jesus said getting up to help his sister. "It's okay. We can fix it, right, Brandon? We can still give Mommy and Mama a nice breakfast._

_Brandon did not see how they could fix it, but he nodded anyway. They were out of flour, so they could not make any more pancakes. Then he looked at it closer. "Our cards just need to be wiped off a little. They will be fine, I think. The pancakes still look okay to me. Let's just put them back on the plates. The bacon will also be okay. It is just the eggs and the cups of milk that need to be redone." _

_Indeed, the eggs that were not fully cooked had spattered on the floor. Mariana and Jesus picked up the pancakes and bacon and put them back onto the plates while Brandon half-cooked a few more eggs. Jesus picked up the cups and poured in more milk. He was feeling a little bad for causing the mess. Mariana carefully wiped the breakfast off of the cards and placed them carefully back on the tray. This time Brandon carried the tray and Mariana carried the milk._

_Jesus knocked on the door when the trio got up the stairs and then barged in on the two sleeping women. As Brandon set the tray down in front of his moms the kids all yelled "Surprise! Happy Mother's Day!"_

"But did they eat the food?" Callie questioned when the story was done.

"They both ate a little… Then they offered to share with us. When none of us wanted to try any, Mama said she would get up and make us a real breakfast. Of course, the kitchen was a disaster and we were out of flour and eggs. So, we all had cereal together instead." Mariana finished giggling a little.

"We had to spend the whole morning cleaning the kitchen. Then we got a lecture about not ever using the stove without one of them present." Jesus added also smiling about the memory.

"Did they like the cards?" Jude asked sort of getting into the stories.

"Yep. All the cards were placed in the scrapbook. Lena keeps all of those sort of things. Mom says it is to embarrass us when we are older." Brandon answered standing up.

Suddenly the kids heard Stef coming down the hallway knocking on doors to tell the kids that dinner was ready. Brandon opened his door and peered out. "Hey, B, have you seen everyone else? Mama sent me to tell you that dinner is ready, but I cannot find your brothers and sisters." Stef stuck her head in the doorway and saw the others. "What are all of you doing in here? Well, never mind, dinner is ready. Wash up and get downstairs."

Stef walked back down the stairs to her wife with an odd look on her face. "How many of our kids are in that history class together?"

"Just Brandon and Callie. Why do you ask?"

"I just found all five of them together in Brandon's room. Obviously plotting something." Lena raised her eyebrows at Stef. "I long for that Mother's Day when Brandon just made us cards or the second when we took him shopping. Maybe we could just take all of them somehow…"

Lena rolled her eyes and interrupted. "Stef, we agreed that we want whatever they do to come from their hearts, remember? Cleaning up from whatever they have plotted is just part of the festivity of the day. We always wind up getting to spend quality time with the people who made us mothers"

"I know, Love, I know." Their conversation drew to an end as all five kids made their way into the room to join their mothers for dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I intended to post this yesterday, but I was unable to get it all done with the Thunder game on... We lost and then I was all disappointed... Anyway, I hope you all had a great Mother's Day yesterday (if you celebrate that). I spent time with my mom. **

After dinner and cleaning up, the kids reconvened in Brandon's room. "Okay, so you have done cards before, you have done store bought presents, and you have tried breakfast in bed. What else have you guys done?" Callie asked truly curious at her sibling's stories.

Jesus decided it was his turn. "Well, the year after the breakfast disaster, we decided to go with a more classic approach and give the moms flowers…."

_The three Foster children had asked Lena if they could go outside and play. She always thought fresh air was a good choice and followed them out. The house phone rang so Lena went back in to see who was calling. It seemed like now or never if they were going to get flowers for the moms._

_ "__Mama really likes roses. The people across the street have a whole bush full of them. Let's go get some." Jesus said as he started across the street._

_ "__Wait! You know we aren't allowed to cross streets alone!" Mariana called after him as she ran to catch up. "Come on, Brandon!"_

_Brandon caught up with his brother and sister. The three made their way to the rose bush and Jesus reached in to grab a flower off. "Ouch! The roses are sharp!" He stuck his finger in his mouth where it was slightly bleeding. _

_Mariana looked at the roses carefully and found a place without thorns to grab. Soon she had picked several pretty flowers. Brandon then remembered that their neighbors were growing daisies. His mom loved daisies so the three crossed the street again and went into their neighbor's yard. The daisies were lining the sidewalk up to the front door. Jesus was a little afraid to touch any more flowers, so Brandon and Mariana picked some without his help, trampling over a few flowers as they went._

_From there, the kids noticed that several other people in the neighborhood also had some nice flowers. Jesus gained his courage back and helped his siblings pick a few from other yards. Soon, they had a nice collection for each mom. _

_Then, the kids wandered back to their own yard and picked a few flowers from the flower beds Lena had been working on. They reasoned she must really like that kind or she would not have planted them. Jesus threw in a few dandelions and other weeds for good measure. Both flower bouquets looked beautiful to the children. Brandon suggested that Mariana should take the flowers up to her room for the night so they could give them in the morning for Mother's Day._

Jesus thought carefully after finishing his story. "This one also ended kind of badly, I guess. All the flowers were dead and wilted when we gave them to Moms… And then we had to spend several weekends helping the neighbors and Mama in their gardens to regrow flowers."

"It wasn't all bad. That's when we got to know our neighbors better. When Mom drug as back to the neighbor with the daisies we found out she was really nice. She makes really great cookies and volunteered to watch us occasionally when we needed a babysitter." Mariana added and the others agreed. Even Callie and Jude had tried her cookies recently.

"Lena was mortified, though. We were also warned to never trespass on other people's property and that gathering flowers like that was stealing. Mom said she would personally arrest us and take us to jail next time she heard of this happening." Brandon remembering laughing a little.

"So, have you tried doing something helpful for Moms that does not add more work for them? Both of the flowers and the breakfast both sound like Lena, at least, had to work harder than normal."

"Yeah!" Mari exclaimed loudly. "I remember one year, we were too big to just make cards like before. So we decided to clean the house and do the laundry. That way Moms would have all weekend with no chores…."

_"__Are you sure you know how to do laundry, Mari?" Brandon asked for what seemed like the millionth time after the mothers left to make a quick trip to a store leaving their ten and eleven year old children alone for a little while._

_ "__Brandon, I am ten years old now, not a baby! Of course I know what I am doing. You and Jesus can go sweep and vacuum and just leave this job to me." Mariana had watched and helped her mothers to laundry many times. She knew that the first step was to sort the clothes into groups. She put all of the socks and underwear in a pile, all of the jeans in another pile, all the shirts in a pile, and then made a stack of everything left. The socks and underwear looked like a good place to start. Mariana stuffed it all into the washer. She carefully measured and added the detergent and fabric softener to the machine. The only part Mariana was unsure about was the proper setting. It was already on warm/hot on a regular cycle and these were regular sorts of clothes. So, she turned it on._

_The boys both knew how to vacuum and sweep, but neither one wanted to vacuum. Instead, they spent part of the time fighting over the broom and the rest having a sword fight with the broom and mop. As their battle intensified, a light fixture as well as a glass on the counter got broken. To avoid the glass, the two boys hopped on to chairs and continued their pretend fight. This is how the moms found the boys forty-five minutes later. It took both women to sort out the boys. They finally determined the best action would be starting Brandon on the vacuum and Jesus on the broom with a timer to switch in fifteen minutes. Stef cleaned up the class shards on the floor while Lena went to check on Mariana. _

_Unfortunately, Mariana had not taken into account that one pair of socks were very red. She quickly stuffed all of the now pinkish underwear into the dryer hoping that would fix it. Next, she stuck in half the pile of leftover stack and started the washer again with the same settings. Lena got upstairs just in time for the now pink clothing to come out of the dryer and the other clothes to come out of the washer. _

_Lena eyed the pink tinted clothing realizing what must have happened. She also saw immediately that her favorite bra was among the casualties. Mariana tried to shove clothes into the dryer, but Lena noticed and stopped her. Several items in the leftover stack were dry clean only and were most likely ruined. One of Stef's sweaters, for example, had been in that load and had definitely shrunk. Lena sighed before patiently stopping to explain laundry to her daughter. _

"See, that Mother's Day was a little better. Jesus and I did help by cleaning, and the laundry eventually got done. Most of the underwear was fixable using some bleach. I don't think the moms left us alone again for like three years, though."

"No kidding?" Callie laughed. "This sounds like it was another huge mess to me."

"It does sort of sound like we fail this holiday every year when I really think about it." Mariana said looking back at her sister before addressing the whole group. "Seriously guys, we have to step it up this year. We are older and there are more of us, surely we can find a working idea."

"Even though all of these ideas failed, at least you got to spend extra time with Mom and Mama. Isn't that what Mother's Day is really for?" Jude asked sounding more like Lena than he knew. The other kids acknowledged that he was right. "Then whatever we do this year will be perfect as long as it comes from hearts, right?"

Mariana looked at Jude thoughtfully. "In theory, yes. So, do you have an idea, Judicorn?"

"You said Mama saved the cards that you made every year?" Jude asked receiving nods from the other three. "We should definitely make cards then as a start. Yes, we are older, but I have never given either of them a Mother's Day card before. If we all make something, it will be from our own hearts just like Mama wants. We have a few more days to come up with what else to do. Right now, though, I have homework to do. Can we talk about this again tomorrow?"

The other four looked at Jude in silence. As the youngest, he was not expected to show the kind of insight that he had displayed for them with his words. Finally, Brandon broke the silence. "I have some homework to finish, too. How about if we walk home from school tomorrow, gather some crafting supplies, and work on our cards together? Maybe we will find some more inspiration by then."

All five Foster teenagers went back to their own rooms to work on their homework assignments. Callie finished her work and then got onto Pinterest to see what sorts of ideas she could find for her card. She knew that she wanted to do something special. Just like Jude said, this was her first time to make a card for either of her new moms.

"Did you guys never have any good Mother's Days before?" Mariana asked interrupting Callie's thoughts.

"I wouldn't say never. This is our first home in a long time since Jude has called anyone mom and the first one since the original that we celebrated Mother's Day like this. Jude probably does not remember celebrating before, however, I can remember my mother. We had some really great times together….."

_Seven-year old Callie helped her mom, Colleen, get three-year old Jude dressed. Her father, Donald, was not around much during the day and today was no exception. Callie and her mother packed lunch and the three of them set off to celebrate Mother's Day with a picnic in the park._

_The weather appeared to be gorgeous. Colleen handed Callie the tote bag that contained the lunch and a few toys use play with at the park. She then took Callie's free hand in one hand and one of Jude's in the other. They began walking the two blocks to the park. About halfway, Jude starting getting tired so his mother picked him up to carry him the rest of the way. _

_Many other families had the same idea so the park was crowded. "Mommy, can we go play over there?" Callie asked pointing to a climbing toy._

_ "__Sure, Sweetheart. Keep your eye on Jude, though. You are his big sister and it is your job to protect him."_

_Callie grabbed Jude's hand and started that direction. "I will, Mommy, I will always protect my baby brother."_

_Colleen watched from the distance wondering how she got so lucky with her two children. Sure, she worked hard and they didn't have money for many extras, but she could just tell that her kids were special. She wondered how long it would be before Callie learned the truth about her real father and how much longer she could remain married to Donald. _

_Suddenly, the sky clouded up and it began to sprinkle. Colleen rushed back over to her children with their tote bag. She picked up Jude, grabbed Callie's hand, and they walked quickly back to their apartment._

"We still had our picnic, we just ate it inside. I didn't have anything to give to my mother, but she said it was alright. I guess it was sort of like Jude said that the important thing was to spend time together. We had other days and even other Mother's Days, but I remember that one the best."

"Why didn't you suggest a picnic earlier? We have never done that, but we could. We could even have it at the beach…"

"I didn't mention it before because that was something I did with my mother. Your moms are great and I am so glad that Jude has taken to calling them Mom and Mama. But, I am just not sure if I am ready to share that part of me yet."

"My moms?" Mariana questioned observing something that she hadn't noticed in a while. "Callie, you are my sister. My moms are our moms. Mama is trying to have a baby that will be everyone's brother or sister. Do you really still not think of yourself as part of our family?"

"That is sort of a loaded question, Mari. I am still a foster kid and not a permanent family member like you and even like Jude now. My status is still temporary. Even my birth mother lied to be about my family and where I came from. How can I know that your moms are telling me the truth?"

"Does that mean you don't consider me your sister?" Mariana said with hurt in her voice. "I thought when you came back that you would get it. We made dinner with Mama tonight. You seemed like you were having a good time with us."

"Of course I am your sister, Mari! And I do enjoy the time we spend together. Making dinner with Lena is always good. It's just that I am not sure where I fit."

"Well, maybe it's time you figure it out." Mariana replied still a little hurt.

After a few minutes of silence, Stef chose to knock on the girls' door to say good night. She heard most of the exchange between the girls, but knew that tonight was not the time to discuss it with them. Stef entered the room, "It is getting late. I need you both in bed in the next thirty minutes so you can get up and be ready for school in the morning." She then walked over to Mariana's side of the room. Stef hugged her younger daughter and kissed her on the head. "I love you, Miss Thing!"

Mariana answered her mother and then Stef moved over to Callie's side. She gathered Callie in for a hug the same way and kissed her head several times. "I love you, Bug!"

Callie squirmed away a little smiling. "Hey, how come so many kisses. She only got one."

"I have many years of missed bedtime kisses to make up for with you." Stef explained releasing Callie. "Mama will be up here in a little while to make sure you two are in bed." Stef leaned over giving Callie one more hug and a few more kisses.

"I love you, too, but please get off of me." Callie said this time giggling. "And tell Lena that she doesn't owe me any…"

"Lena doesn't owe you any, what?" Lena asked coming in the doorway making her round to the girls' room.

"Oh, Bug was just going to say that I already gave her extra hugs and kisses…"

"If you got to give our daughter extra than surely I get to also, right?" Lena said eyeing Stef and Callie. "Our kids are always telling us things aren't fair. It really wouldn't be fair if Mom gave you hugs and kisses and I didn't get to give you any, would it?"

Lena proceeded to grab Callie tightly also giving a few kisses. She was unsure why Stef thought Callie needed this reassurance right now, but knew they would talk about it later.


	3. Chapter 3

After school the next day Lena called the kids to her office. "Okay, guys, I have a few meetings that I have to attend this afternoon. So, anyone who wants a ride will need to wait around here. Otherwise you will need to walk home."

The kids looked at each other and realized this would give the perfect time to work on their Mother's Day cards together since Stef would also still be at work. Brandon spoke for the group. "We will all walk home together, Mama. It's no problem."

"Are you sure? You really like the piano here, B. You could have the room to yourself to practice."

"That's okay, Mama. I have a lot of homework tonight and it would be better to just go on home."

"Jude, Baby, I will have some time between meetings to help you with your work. How about you stay here while the others walk home. You could help me pick up pizza on the way home. What do you say?" Lena asked her youngest with a wink.

Jude was feeling kind of bad, but he knew that he really needed to go home with the others. "Can we do that a different day, Mama? Today, I really want to get home."

Lena eyed her children suspiciously. "I suppose all the rest of you would rather just walk home than spend time with your mama?" All the kids looked at the floor in order to not make eye contact with their mother. "Really? I am so bad that Jesus doesn't even want to help pick out food? Fine. You can all go and I will catch up with you at home."

The kids walked out of the office feeling like terrible people. Jude ran back to give Lena a hug and tell her that he loved her, just couldn't stay with her after school. The walk home was rather silent as all of the Foster teenagers still felt really badly. Jude finally broke the silence, "Does it seem a little wrong to you all that we actually hurt Mama's feelings in order to make cards that tell her how much we love her?"

"It will be okay, Buddy." Callie said putting an arm around her brother. "Lena will understand, I think. Mari and I thought it might be fun to have a picnic at the beach on Sunday. What do you guys think?"

Mariana smiled at Callie and linked her arms with her on the other side. The boys agreed that a picnic could be a lot of fun. Callie and Mariana were quickly put in charge of the food. Jude, Jesus, and Brandon volunteered to find towels, blankets, sunscreen, and other beach essentials. They spent the rest of the trip home discussing their picnic plans.

The kids determined that if they worked on their cards in the family room, they would have plenty of space and be able to watch a movie at the same time. The girls grabbed art supplies from all over the house. Jesus put in a movie while Brandon and Jude found snacks.

As in with any good intention, card making starting out well. Everyone was getting along, sharing and enjoying their snacks right up until Jesus reached over Mariana to grab a handful of Goldfish crackers and knocked over her water ruining her card.

"JESUS! You did that on purpose! Look at it! Now, I have to start over!" In her anger she picked up the bag of crackers and dumped them on her brother.

Jesus reacted by throwing handfuls of crackers randomly throughout the room. "It was not on purpose! This is, though!" He stood up smashing crackers with every step. He grabbed Callie's water and dumped it on Mariana.

Jude, who had green paint all over his hands, quickly scooted out of the way of his older siblings. He hit an end table with a lamp. It teetered on the edge, but he was able to catch it. Unfortunately, leaving green handprints on his clothing, the floor, the end table, and the lamp.

Callie, who had some water splash on her and saw what happened to the lamp, got up quickly (also smashing crackers with every step) and rushed over to Jude. She slipped the mixture of crackers, paint and water and fell into the end table as she crashed into Jude.

Brandon tackled Jesus to the floor thinking it would end the fight. Instead, it started a wrestling match between the two of them. They rolled all over the floor knocking over the rest of the water, some paint, ultimately crashing into the other end table.

The loud crashes of the two lamps almost simultaneously breaking was enough to freeze all of the action in the room. Hearing the front door open was enough to invoke panic into all the kids. Mariana ran through the room trying to gather up all of the cards. Most were messes by this time, but she still stacked them together before ultimately throwing them away. Jude ran to wash his hands and try to get the paint off of his clothes. Callie and Jesus tried to hide the pieces of the lamps. Brandon started scooting cracker pieces with his feet to sort of clean the floor some.

Stef watched the futile clean-up efforts of her kids from a distance for a few minutes before clearing her throat. "I see that Mother's Day came a little early this year…. At least that is what I am assuming has destroyed the house. From the looks of things, not only will your mama be expecting something from your little hearts for her, but I will also be taking the herd of you to Ikea on Saturday to buy lamps as a store bought present for me. Luckily for you, Mama says she likes to help you clean up from these types of messes and she will be home in a few minutes. For now, I am going to go upstairs to relax and try not to think about whatever was going on in here."

With that, Stef walked up the stairs. The kids sighed in relief when they heard the door to the master bedroom slam closed. "That could have been worse. Mom's getting soft." Jesus commented. "Are the cards going to be okay, Mari?"

"No… It turns out there is a reason why teachers have elementary aged people make cards, but not high schoolers. Between the water, paint, and general uncraftiness of most members of this family, I just decided to throw them all away. You would understand if you saw them." Mariana looked a bit guilty about throwing out the cards, but in reality by the time they were stacked together all were certainly ruined.

"Now what?" Brandon asked looking at each of his siblings. "We will obviously be going with Mom on Saturday to buy new lamps. Sunday we can still do our beach trip. What else can we do for Lena that can come from our hearts?"

No one spoke for a few minutes as they were lost in thought. "I have an idea…" Callie started of quietly, but gained confidence as she gained the attention of the others. "Lena loves us more than she loves anything else, right? What if I used my camera that I got for my birthday as well as pictures that we have taken with our phones to make a large collage picture that could be hung in here somewhere? We could all work together on it and it would be of the people she loves the most."

"And here I thought that you said last night that you knew nothing about Mother's Day. Today, you come up with both the picnic and the picture idea…" Brandon teased.

"Hey, I helped with the beach idea!" Mariana protested.

Jesus was ready to jump in and argue, but before he could Lena came in the front door. She was smiling until she saw her children and their yet to be cleaned up mess. "Where is your mother?" The Foster kids all looked at the ground silently not wanting to even give Lena eye contact for the second time that afternoon. "She sent me a text a few minutes ago saying that you guys wanted to spend some time with me. I hurried home expecting something different than this mess. So, where is she?"

"Mom's upstairs, but Mama, we are going to clean up ourselves…" "Mom's going to take us to replace the lamps…." "We are so sorry, Mama…" "I was just trying to get out of the way…." Four out of five of the kids spoke up at once. Callie was the only silent one.

"Yes, you will be cleaning this up and I am glad you realize that you all will be replacing the lamps." Lena stopped at smiled a little at the group. "You are not going to clean it up alone, though. I am going to go get your mom to help while I start dinner. May I ask what you all were making before this occurred?"

"You may ask, but you will probably never know." Jesus replied cheekily.

Stef did come back down the stairs to help the kids clean up, but only in a supervisory role. Lena glanced into the family room and watched her kids and her wife. "Cals, you missed a spot over there by the table." Stef called casually from the couch peering over a magazine. "Jesus, make sure you move the end tables some to sweep so that you get all of the glass off the floor."

"I brought you another cup of water, Mom. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Jude asked quietly as he had already finished getting paint off of the floor and end table. He had also helped Lena treat the clothing with paint on it in hopes it was not all ruined.

"Yes, Little Man, there is something else." She said patting the empty space next to her. "You can come sit by me and help me tell the others what to do next…"

Jude gave Stef a shocked expression and took a step back. "I am much smaller than any of them and I value my life… How about if I just help Mama make dinner instead?"

Stef gave him a playful swat to send him toward the kitchen. "Weakling."

"I prefer the term alive, Mom." Jude joked as he walked back to the kitchen.

Lena watched the interaction between the two and smiled. Jude had adjusted so well to living in their home. "Stef, remember that we don't hit our children… at least not the little one, we still like him. He doesn't have a bad attitude like the others yet."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Thanks for the reviews! This chapter contains another flashback and is mostly about Lena.**

By the time dinner happened, the family room was lampless, but overall clean. Dinner started off fairly quiet as no one knew exactly what to say. Lena looked at the kids and her wife and started giggling some. Her family looked inquisitive at first, but as the giggles continued the curious looks turned to glares.

Stef took the bait. "Okay, Love, my children and I want to know what you are finding so funny."

"I was just remembering one time when I was a kid. My dad always helped with Mother's Day, but my mama, just like me, wanted something special every year…."

_Ten year old Lena had always wished to have a brother or sister. Due to her only child status, her mother, in particular, seemed like she was always criticizing Lena's every move. This lead to falling outs between mother and daughter that never ended well. Unfortunately, this day, they had just had a fight and Lena was having to spend the evening in her room alone. After completing her homework, Lena decided she should look at the project she was making for her mother for Mother's Day._

_Lena took out the tiny cross-stitch she had been working on for the last week. She read over the proverb she had carefully finished stitching, "A Mother's Love is Forever." Lena sighed and put it back away. If it was love she was currently experiencing with her mother, than she certainly did not want to go on this way forever. Despite all the work she put in, this could not be the gift that she gave because it was not how she was feeling._

_A knock at the door drew Lena out of her current thoughts. Stuart peeked in the doorway as Lena invited him in. "What happened today, Honey?"_

_ "__I don't know, Daddy. She is just so hard to get along with!" Stuart sat down on Lena's bed next to her. "I just don't understand her!"_

_ "__Well, let's take time to think about what went wrong this afternoon. Did school go okay?" Stuart asked putting his arm around Lena._

_ "__Yes, well, not completely. Everything was going well until I got back my history test. I got a B…. Mom asked to see it when I got in the car. When she saw my grade, she started telling me how I should have studied more and that she expects more out of me. But, Daddy, a B is a good grade!"_

_ "__If it is your best, it is a good grade. Was that your best effort, Lena?"_

_ "__Yes. Well, maybe not." Lena gave another dramatic sigh. "But Daddy, I can't always be perfect. I just can't do it. Maybe Mom felt like she grew up having to prove herself every day, but I don't."_

_ "__I know, Honey, but your mom really does love you and wants you to be your best. I understand that you aren't perfect and your mom does also. What I also know is that you could be spending a few more minutes studying for history and a few less arguing with your mother. Got it?"_

_ "__Yes, Daddy."_

Lena paused at looked at her wife and kids. Jude had moved his stool significantly closer to her. The others were all looking at her with sad eyes. "Love, I am going to rephrase my earlier comment… What was so funny that you were laughing earlier? This story is not funny so far. You are making my children sad…"

"My story is unfinished, Stefanie. I have not gotten to the funny part yet." Looking around again at the sad faces Lena continued. "I promise it is going to get better…."

_At school the next day, Lena sat with her friends at lunch. She explained to them that she could no longer give the cross stitch to her mother and was unsure how to fix their relationship. Plus, now she had to find something else she could give to her mother for Mother's Day._

_ "__At least your mom has time for you. The twins are getting teeth, the rest of us have scouts, soccer, piano lessons, baseball, and gymnastics after school. My mom barely has time to sign my report card, must less look at my grades on every test. I do my homework in the car most days on the way to or from activities." Sara, a little red headed girl said looking and Lena._

_ "__So, what I need is something to keep my mom busy other than me…" Lena thought aloud. "A brother or sister would be great, I guess that won't be very possible. Unless..."_

_ "__My mom would notice if one of us was missing." Sara said filling in the blank. "I tried getting rid of one of my brothers once and she noticed right off. However, our puppies are ready to be given away. My mom would love it if I could find a home for one of them."_

_ "__A puppy? We have never had a dog or really any other pet. Would that work? I mean, the puppy can't take that much of her time, could it?"_

_ "__I don't know. My mom says that the dog and her puppies take way more time than us kids. My dad has to take the dog to the vet to get fixed so that there won't be any more puppies. However, my mom says the twins are getting big now and she would like to have another baby. I think that means that puppies are harder than kids."_

_ "__I think that would make a perfect gift for my mom! Thanks Sara!"_

_The next day after school, Lena got permission to go home with Sara. She only had a few minutes to pick out a puppy, but it also didn't take long since she had seen them before. Lena chose a girl puppy who was mostly the same golden yellow as her mother dog with a few brown spots (from her father, Lena supposed). Sara's mom had to take the kids to some activities, so Lena chose to walk the short distance to her own house._

_Lena snuck the little puppy into her room. She figured that she should save it for Sunday. In the meantime, a little puppy could not possibly cause too much trouble in Lena's bedroom for a couple of days. She would have to sneak food to it, but even that could be done easily enough._

_From her room, Lena heard the front door open and went downstairs to greet her mother. "I thought you were going home with Sara today. You know that I don't like you to be here by yourself. How long have you been here?"_

_Lena let out an exasperated sigh. "Mom, I am ten and I have shown myself to be responsible enough to have my own house key. I did go home with Sara, but her mom had to take her brothers to scouts. I decided to walk home. She lives really close to here. It's no big deal."_

_ "__Watch your attitude with me, young lady! I ought to take that house key back from you because it is a big deal. You are my only little baby and I would have been home if I knew you would be back so quickly. What if something happened?"_

_ "__But nothing did happen, Mom." Lena rolled her eyes._

_ "__Just go to your room. I will let you know when dinner is ready."_

_Lena sadly trudged back to her room. When she opened the door, it was apparent how much damage a puppy could do in just a few minutes. There was a puddle in the middle of the room. One of Lena's new shoes had some major chew marks. Now, the puppy was whining. It was becoming clear that Lena could not hide the puppy for another hour, much less a few more days. Lena rubbed the puppy's ears as she considered her options. Leaving her room now, even to present her mom with a puppy would result in trouble. However, if the puppy destroyed anything else in her room, she was pretty certain she would also find more trouble. Soon her decision was made for her when her mother knocked on the door._

_ "__Lena Elizabeth Adams! What are you doing with a dog in this house?!"_

"It all ended up okay. It took a little while, but my mom learned to love the dog. Macie was a regular member of my family for fifteen years." Lena finished again with a small giggle.

"Did it work? I mean did Gram loosen up on you, Mama?" Jude asked.

"You have met my mom, Buddy, what do you think?" Lena asked raising her eyebrows. "But yes, it did work to some extent. When we had Macie, I was never home alone. My mom also spent a lot of time with her. It also taught me more responsibility which I think was a good thing. Macie was great for our family."

"Can we get a…" Jesus started.

"No. Mama did not tell you that story because we need a dog." Stef said glaring at each of her children and then her wife. "In Mama's story, having a dog was nice because she was alone without a sibling. Look around. None of you are alone. We practically live in a shoe."

"So, are you the old woman then, Stef?" Callie asked smirking a little.

"Hmmm… I think that rhyme also talks about whipping the children soundly before putting them to bed. Is that what you are looking for there, Bug?" Stef answered with her own amount of teasing.

Lena reached over and lightly hit her wife on the shoulder. "We don't hit our kids, Babe. We do not threaten them with hitting and we do not hit them…"

"But yet you can hit me and tell our children that getting a dog could improve a household? I thought we signed an agreement at the wedding that we would consider our children our only pets."

Lena walked over behind Stef and put her arms around her wife's neck and kissed her cheek. "That we did. No dogs for us right now."

The kids quietly started excusing themselves from the room before their mothers became too loving. "Callie and Jesus, it is your night for the dishes and kitchen clean up. Everyone else, go get your homework done." Stef yelled after the kids.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mariana, can you come help me with my work?" Jude asked from the doorway into his sisters' room. "I don't want to interrupt the moms and Callie is busy."

Mariana looked up at Jude with shock. While Callie was gone Jude had started looking to Mariana as a big sister, but since her return he had gone back to Callie. Now, here he was back. "Sure, Jude! I will just bring my homework into your room so I can help you and get some work done at the same time."

Jude had felt a little bad about asking, but Mariana had told him many times that if he needed anything she would be more than willing to help. He went back into his room and cleared off a little space on his bed for his sister to have a place to sit down.

It took Mariana a minute of looking at Jude's book and the problems he was struggling with to remember how to do it herself. Once she got it, she showed him a method that her teacher used and she found easier. Jude immediately caught on to the concept. They made a silent agreement that Mariana could stay anyway.

Jesus wandered up to his room and found his little brother and twin sister still working on homework together on Jude's bed. Mariana saw him enter. "Hey, I thought the dishes and kitchen would take a little longer. What are you doing back so soon?" Mariana was concerned that if Callie was also free, Jude would once again leave her for his sister.

"Mama said she would take my place for the rest of clean up duty tonight. I think she just wanted to talk to Callie alone for a little while, but I will take what I can get. Are you guys having a homework party without me in my own room?" Jesus was always interested in getting out of chores.

Jude looked a bit confused. "Callie isn't in trouble, is she? I don't want her to take the blame for the mess today. We were all at fault…"

"Calm down, Baby Bro! Mama didn't seem mad at her. We all cleaned up the family room, so I don't think that's it. Sometimes Moms just like to spend individual time with us when we are not in trouble." Jesus paused seeing that Jude was calming back down he decided he should tease him some. "Or maybe she will be grounded forever for calling Mom old at dinner."

Jude smiled. "She would deserve that one. It was the first rule I learned living here. No matter what, never call Mom old."

Back in the kitchen, Lena had relieved Jesus so she could talk to Callie for a few minutes alone, just as Jesus predicted. Truthfully, Lena had noticed that even though Callie joked a bit with Stef at the end of dinner, her oldest daughter had been unusually quiet with them today. The night before, Stef told Lena that Callie still felt a little out of place. From past experience, Lena knew that if she caught Callie trapped, like she was right now, they could often have a good conversation. When Callie was ready she would generally initiate the conversation.

"Is your relationship with your mom the reason that you have so many kids?" Callie asked suddenly almost even shocking herself.

"Yes and no. I always told myself that I would have at least two kids. When I met your mom, she already had Brandon. I sort of thought we would have one more together. Then she met the twins at the station and we became foster parents. We adopted them, and I thought our family was complete until I got a call about you. I said it was temporary, but inside, both your mom and I knew that it wasn't. The night we rescued Jude, your mom came home and said she could never send either of you back in the system. I agreed, you were meant to be ours. Sometime around the wedding, my dream of having a baby was remembered. Now, we have been working on baby number six. So, yes, I did want kids. I always dreamed of becoming a mama. No, I did not imagine we would have this many."

Callie had to stop and process all that Lena said before she spoke again. "Do you ever regret not having your own baby sooner and not doing the whole fostering thing at all?"

"Never. My life without all my kids would not really be my life. You all are my heart. Your mom told you it was like she had five separate hearts running around outside her, but I only have one and you all are it. When you were gone I felt a little dead inside with a Callie shaped hole in my heart. I no longer made any guarantees of when this family will be complete." Lena said walking over to Callie giving her a hug and a kiss on the head. "I can say that your mom is not open to add any pets to the mix, though. If you could make that clear to all of your siblings, it would be helpful."

"No problem! We have no pets planned for this holiday yet and I will make sure none are added." Callie hugged her mom back.

"I love you more than you know, Callie girl!"

"I love you, too, Mama." Callie noticed her mistake and quickly tried to wiggle out of Lena's grasp.

"Not so fast, Callie! I am having my mama moment with my daughter and there will be no running away from it this time." Callie leaned back into Lena's embrace. Both had a few silent tears.

Stef walked in the kitchen at that moment and the hug broke up some. Lena looked at her wife with a little gleam in her eye. "I won. Four out of five of our children had their mama moment before their mom moment."

Stef looked questioningly for a moment before Callie interrupted. "Oh, Mama, B would have too, he just didn't know you when he started talking…"

Stef put a mock hurt look on her face. "Really, Bug? I had money on the idea that you would slip in mom first… Seriously, the extra hugs and kisses, slipping extra cookies in your lunch, not grounding you for calling me old earlier… Now I owe your mama $20. I was sure I had this one."

Callie and Lena looked at each other before Callie reached over and hugged Stef. "You do know that I love you, too, Mom, right?"

"Of course." Stef replied. "And I understand why my kids love their mama so much, too. Thanks for your help in the kitchen, Bug, but mama and me will finish from here. Go get your homework done."

Callie understood that her moms needed a little time to talk about what just happened and quickly left the room. She went up to her bedroom and found it empty. That was fine because Callie was needing some alone time to process some stuff herself. Homework time could be thinking time as well. Since Callie had study hall built into her schedule, she had very little to do tonight, but she was enjoying the quiet. As she put her books away, she heard a noise coming from the boys' room. Even though Jude was fully adopted and she knew he was safe, she was still concerned about him.

Quietly, she snuck over to the doorway to the boys' room and opened the door just a crack. Jude, Jesus, and Mariana were sitting in a circle on the boys' floor playing Uno. "It's your turn, Jude." Jesus prodded.

"I know, I just don't know if this is the card I want to play or not…"

"Just do it!" Mariana said impatiently.

Callie considered intervening, but saw that Jude was not bothered, by Mariana's command. He laid down his card with a twinkle in his eye. "Draw two, Mari!" She glared at her brother. "Hey! You told me to just play it."

Mariana smiled at Jude and pushed him playfully. "You're right. Next time I will tell you to think about it more."

All three kids laughed and the game continued on. Pretty soon, Brandon came out of his room and was watching Callie watch the others. "You know you can join them, right?" He said startling Callie who had not noticed her older brother.

"I was just checking on Jude. You know, just to make sure everything was alright. I don't really want to interrupt their game. He seems happy." Callie whispered back.

"If anyone was hurting my baby brother, I would take care of it. Jesus and Mari feel the same way. You don't have to worry when he is with any of us. Anyway, I am going to join my brothers and sister in Uno." Brandon said as he opened the door. "You coming Cal, or are you going to stand in the hallway watching all evening?"

Reluctantly, Callie joined the others since Brandon blew her cover anyway. After just a few rounds, she found herself laughing with her siblings. Jesus, as it turns out, was a master of the game and after he won about five games in a row, the other kids were done. Callie was the first to toss her extra cards at her brother. Soon the other four followed. Jesus started throwing cards back at them.

Before things got too out of hand this time, Callie stood up, "Okay, guys, this is enough! We already have to replace two lamps and we already had to clean up the family room from the mess we made. Pretty sure this is only fun until something gets broken. I love all my brothers and my sister, but if our moms come in here and ground us all, so help me…"

This small speech was recognized by all of the kids as another family moment. The card battle now shifted to throwing the Uno cards at Callie rather than Jesus. Both moms had heard the chaos from downstairs. Lena sent Stef to deal with whatever it was. Stef watched for a moment from the doorway before clearing her throat to get the kids' attention. "Your sister is correct. Get the cards cleaned up, now." Stef said calmly as an Uno card landed on her foot. She bent down to pick it up instead of standing back up with the card, she threw it at Jude with a grin.

When Stef did not return and the noise upstairs didn't cease, Lena had thoughts that either Stef really didn't check on the kids or that they had her tied up somewhere. She decided that she needed to go up there herself to see what was going on.

"Really, Love?" Lena said from the doorway as she watched her wife running around the room with all five kids. Suddenly several cards flew in Lena's direction. "You guys do realize that we will never have a complete set of Uno cards again after this, right?" More cards were launched in her direction. Lena grabbed a handful and threw them back towards the girls. Instead of hitting them, the cards hit the lamp beside Jude's bed where it had been sitting precariously close to the edge. In what appeared to be slow motion the lamp fell on the floor to its demise.

"See, guys, only fun until something gets broken!" Callie exclaimed.

"So, now we all owe Mom two lamps and Mama owes Jude one, right?" Jesus asked grinning as his moms.

"Not so much, Bud. You all now owe Mama and me three lamps. Now, everyone in pajamas." The kids looked at Stef without moving. "Right now, I mean it!"

"It is only 8:30…" Mariana started to protest.

"Pajamas now. I will see all of you downstairs in the next ten minutes, yes? Callie gets to choose the movie." Stef headed out of the room to get a broom and dustpan.

The word movie got everyone running toward their bedrooms except the boys who were already there. "Jude, take your pajamas and go change in the bathroom. You, too, Jesus. We will clean up the glass this time." Lena said sending the boys off.

Stef came back and started to sweep up the pieces of the lamp. "What were we thinking with all these kids? What are we doing to do with all of them?"

Lena went and kissed her wife on the cheek. "We were thinking that we love kids, particularly our children. Besides, I think I saw you throwing Uno cards with the rest of them just a few minutes ago…"


	6. Chapter 6

**AN Sorry for the delay, I was out of town for several days and just got back.**

Jude fell asleep on Lena's shoulder about halfway through. At the end of the movie, Stef sent the older four kids up to bed with a hug and kiss. Then, she gently nudged Jude until he was awake. He looked around sleepily for a moment wondering where all of the others went. "Hey there, Bud, Mama and I have some questions for you."

"Am I in trouble or something?" Jude asked rubbing his eyes some still.

"Of course not! We just want to know how things are going for you. So, how are you, Little Man?"

Jude looked at his mothers with confusion. "I am okay, I guess. Just a little tired right now. Is that all you needed?"

Stef smiled to herself knowing she could get any information she wanted out of Jude. "No, that isn't all. Sunday, as I think you already know, is Mother's Day. Do you have any plans for this weekend?"

"Well, Saturday we are all going to Ikea with you to buy some lamps… Sunday is a secret."

"Sunday is that day I was hoping to discuss with you. When you say it is a secret, who are you keeping the secret from?"

"Stef…." Lena said in a warning sort of voice. Stef rolled her eyes some and looked back at Jude.

"I think we are keeping a secret from you two." Jude said looking between the two moms. "Brandon just said not to tell."

"Maybe he meant not to tell your classmates or your teachers?" Stef said trying to reason with him. "Surely he did not mean us. We never want you keeping secrets from us, Bud."

"Well, no, you do say that you don't want us keeping secrets from you. This is a happy one that you will like, but I think B said not to tell you. I mean, at Christmas is it bad to not tell you about your presents? That is a secret, but a good one, right?"

"Of course, Sweetheart." Lena said gently. "The only secrets that we don't want you to keep are ones that could hurt you or someone else. Mom is just making sure that you are not bringing home a dog, cat, or other sort of pet, right Stef?"

"Right, and I want to make sure…." Stef started before Lena interrupted.

"Stefanie…"

"We aren't getting a dog. I had not even considered that before your story, Mama. Why can't we have a dog, though? It would be great for the whole family. Like when we made trips to the beach…"

"No. No dog. Now, about the beach…. We have not taken you there yet, have we? Interesting that it would come up in this conversation. Is that what you all are planning, Little Man?"

Jude was wide eyed and was not sure what do to. Luckily for him, Jesus noticed him missing and ran down the stairs right then. "Jude, there you are! I didn't want to go to bed without you, come on bro!"

Jude jumped off the couch and started toward the stairs. "Freeze!" Stef shouted. Jude stopped and turned around thinking he really was in trouble now. "Come give Mama and I some love before you go."

Happily, Jude ran back and hugged both of his moms and they both gave him a kiss before sending him up stairs.

"That was a close one, Jesus! I almost broke down there and told everything!" Jude confessed at the top of the stairs.

"Mom is good. She can spot the one that is the most likely to tell and she can usually get what she wants. I understand because before you came along, I was the easiest to get information from. Brandon and Mariana would always be annoyed because I would talk before I thought about it enough. We protect our own around here. I will try to make sure that we don't leave you by yourself again until after Sunday."

"Thanks, Jesus. Can we move the picnic from somewhere other than the beach now? I really want it to be a surprise, and I sort of blew that one."

"We can talk to the others real quick and see."

Jesus tapped on the girls' door as Jude knocked on Brandon's. Soon everyone was settled in Brandon's room again. Jesus took over this meeting. "Mom just tried to interrogate Jude tonight when we all went upstairs. He didn't give away the surprise, but he did mention the beach and it got Mom's attention. I think it would be good for Mom if we continued letting her think we are taking them to the beach, but come up with a different location. Any ideas?"

"How about the mall?" Mariana asked. "While we were there we could look for some new clothes or something…"

"No!" The other four said quickly.

"It was just a thought. None of you have come up with anything."

"What about at school? We have picnic tables there and we could play volleyball. Jesus, you like that, right?" Brandon suggested just to have another idea out there.

"Go to school when we don't have to? Really? Besides, that's where Mama works, I bet she doesn't want to hang out there either." Jesus said grumpily.

"We could go to the zoo." Jude said quietly. "I mean, isn't San Diego known to have one of the best zoos in the world? We could all spend the day together there. Best of all, there will be no mess."

The older four kids sat and considered Jude's suggestion. Brandon finally spoke up. "We haven't been to the zoo in years. It is a really neat place. It might be kind of expensive, though. Let's look into the price before we make any decisions. Right now, though, I think I hear both moms coming up the stairs. For now, keep dropping hints about the beach and try to make sure that neither Jesus nor Jude is left alone with Mom at any time."

The kids opened the door and peeked out. When they did not see either mom they started out of Brandon's room toward the other two rooms quietly. Stef and Lena stepped into the middle of the hallway.

Stef looked at Lena and then addressed the kids. "All in Brandon's room plotting again? Were Mama and I not clear when we sent you up here that you all were to brush your teeth and go to bed? We let you all stay up and watch a movie with us, but it is still a school night. Your bedtime was half an hour ago and you had plenty of time to make that when the movie finished an hour ago. Go to bed. Any arguing will result in an earlier bedtime tomorrow."

"Mom, we were just going to…" Mariana started.

"Mari just earned a 10:30 bedtime for the big kids and a 10 for Jude. Now, go to bed!"

All of the kids groaned and everyone, but Jude started quickly moving towards their rooms. "But I slept during the movie and you just woke me up!" Jude whined stomping his feet a little. This was a little out of characteristic for the boy, but both moms recognized this as typical exhausted Jude behavior. "It's not fair! Just because Mariana argued with you shouldn't change my bedtime for tomorrow! I am not even tired!"

Jude's meltdown caused Callie to peek out from her doorway. Even though she felt like they were both safe in this house, it seemed noteworthy to see how the moms would handle such an outburst from Jude. Callie still wanted to be ready in case she was needed to intervene.

Lena looked at him carefully. "Whoa, Buddy! Your bedtime will not be 10 tomorrow night after all, it will be at 9:30. You obviously are tired. Go brush your teeth, please."

Jude still looked troubled. He opened his mouth to speak again and received a look from Lena that showed him that he would not win. So, he grumpily walked towards the bathroom. Lena also made eye contact with Callie. As she started walking toward the girls' room, Mariana grabbed Callie's arm and pulled her away from the door.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" Mari whispered to Callie as she shut the door. "If Mama comes over here and sees us still up we could wind up going to bed before Jude tomorrow."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who talked back to Stef. That was you." Callie whispered back.

The girls stopped fighting when they heard their bedroom door opening. They both jumped into bed and closed their eyes as quickly as possible. Lena turned the light on as she entered the room. "Hey, Stef, come here… I know that I just saw Callie at the doorway of this room not two minutes ago. I also know that less than a minute ago, I heard both of our daughters arguing quietly. Now, they are both in their beds sleeping."

"They must have been very tired since they are actually both on top of their blankets and sheets. Also interesting that Mariana is not curled on her side with one hand under the pillow and Callie does not have a finger on the bridge of her nose. Hmm… Maybe they are so tired that tomorrow night we should have everyone in bed by 9. What do you think, Lena?"

"I think neither one of them are really asleep. What do you think, Callie?"

Callie opened her eyes a little to see both moms standing over her. She faked a small yawn. "Is it morning already?"

Stef carefully moved Callie's feet to give Lena a place to sit down and then Callie sat up a little to give Stef a place to sit. "Miss Thing, you can come join us if you like. We know that neither of you are asleep yet." Mariana walked over and joined her mothers and sister on Callie's bed.

"You both know that we want only the best for you and your brothers, right?" Both girls nodded so Lena continued. "Today has been a long day. Between school, cleaning the family room, dinner, homework, Uno, and having a family movie night our schedule was a little too full. Tomorrow night going to bed earlier is not really a punishment, it is more of a realization that kids need sleep. I know that you witnessed Jude's little tantrum a few minutes ago. He is safe here and we would never hurt him. As Jude's parents, we can tell when he is tired, just like we know when you are not really sleeping. There is no need to protect him from us. Now, how about if we tuck you guys both in so you can sleep for real this time."

Mariana went back to her own bed and the moms got up to allow Callie to lay back down. Once the girls were settled, both moms gave them kisses, told them goodnight, and turned the lights back off as they shut the door.

Next the moms went to check in on Brandon who was truly already asleep. Stef looked down on her oldest son and could hardly believe how old he had become. She smoothed the hair on the side of his head. Then both moms gave him another kiss and tucked him in a little tighter.

In the boys' room, Jesus was also already asleep. Lena turned his IPod off and they both kissed him again as well. Jude was not asleep yet. His outburst earlier had given him enough adrenaline to help him fight off sleep. Stef approached her youngest son first. "Okay, Bud, lay down, please."

"I am not tired. I could lay down all night, but I still wouldn't be tired."

"Okay, Son, that's fine. Just go ahead and do it. If you don't sleep, at least you will be resting." Stef answered as she helped him lie down and gave a wink to Lena. "Now, just for me, close your eyes…." Jude closed his eyes. Lena came over and sat on the end of his bed and lightly scratched his back as Stef gently touched his face. Within moments, his breath evened out and they knew he was out for the night. Both moms also kissed Jude, turned out the light in the room, and shut the door.

"Okay, Stef, no more movie nights that start after 8… Seriously, our thirteen year old was up until midnight. You and I both know that Jude requires nine hours of sleep to function at his best. It will be good for him to sleep a little earlier tomorrow."

The moms were getting ready for bed themselves realizing how late it was by now. After brushing their teeth and putting on pajamas they laid down in their bed curled together.

"You are right, Love. An earlier bedtime will be good for everyone. And did you hear the little one say we might be going to the beach on Sunday? That would be the best Mother's Day ever! I guess we should make sure everyone has a swimsuit ready to go by then…."

"Stef," Lena interrupted. "He never said specifically we were going to the beach. The beach would be nice, but I don't really want to get my hopes up yet. I just want to spend some special time with my babies."


	7. Chapter 7

**This one got a little Callie centered, but it will be coming back to the others soon.**

Callie's phone buzzed and she discreetly pulled it out of her pocket in class. It was text from Brandon, "Hey, when you get the chance look up how much your collage picture might cost. Look up frames if you have time as well. I am looking up the cost for the zoo and Mari is going to look for lamps online at Ikea. We will get together this afternoon."

Callie glanced up and saw that her teacher was still looking another direction so she texted back, "Got it. It shouldn't be super expensive."

"Miss Foster, I would like your phone, please." Callie looked up surprised to see her teacher standing right over her. "You know the policy, yes? Stick around after class, I will be writing a detention for you and sending your phone to the office. I am sure it will be no problem to have a parent pick up the phone since you mom is right there in the office."

Callie slunk down in her chair and didn't even want to remind her teacher that her last name was still Jacobs and when it changed it would be Adams Foster. It seemed better to just remain silent until after class. For the rest of the period, Callie tried to appear to be focused on the lesson at hand, but inside she was trying to think of her next plan.

When the bell rang, she made her way up to the teacher's desk. "Sir, I am really sorry that I had my phone out today in class. I promise that it will never happen again."

"I hope that it won't. You have been doing so well in class recently and I hate to see things like this happen. Do you think you can serve the detention today or tomorrow, Miss Foster?"

"Well, maybe I could serve both days and have you not send my phone to the office?" Callie tried with a small forced smile.

"Not a chance. Your mother is my boss. What was so important that you were texting through my class anyway?"

"Mother's Day plans. For real. Now, if Lena gets my phone, she will not open it and read any messages she says they are private. Stef, though, reads anything and everything on anyone's phone when she gets the chance. When Mari got her phone taken, Lena called Stef to come get it. So, please, I would serve three days of detention just to not have you send my phone to the office. My moms will be unhappy with my detention and will probably ground me. My siblings will be harder to deal with if I give away the surprise." Callie pleaded with all sincerity forgetting Stef's threat over her last detention.

The teacher was genuinely interested in Callie's explanation, but had to weigh his options carefully. On one hand, he knew that it was a big deal that Callie was so involved with her family plans. Both Stef and Lena had attended spring conferences to discuss Callie's progress and this was a big step. He also knew that Lena did not want her kids receiving special treatment at school. "Okay, Miss Foster, here is what I can do for you. Get into your phone and delete the messages that will give away your surprise. I still have to write your detention and I do still have to send your phone to the office. At least your brothers and sister won't be angry with you."

Callie's eyes brightened as she took her phone and deleted Brandon's texts and sent one to Mari to say that she was bored in class. Her teacher looked questioningly at her text until she explained that it was to look like the one that got her in trouble to begin with. After Callie got her detention slip, she went to lunch knowing that she would be called to the office at some point in the near future.

Mariana had the same lunchtime as Callie and had saved the usual place for her sister. She was puzzled when Callie was late, but then saw the pink detention slip in her hands. "What happened? Moms are going to kill you! You know what Mom said last time you got a detention. Seriously?!"

"Calm down, Mari! B was texting me in class about looking up some prices. I wrote back and got caught. I did get the texts deleted and I did send a text to you to cover my tracks with Stef when she checks my phone later. I explained the situation to my teacher, he was sympathetic, but still had to follow school policy. A detention is not so bad. I would prefer if my phone hadn't been taken, but still."

"Cals, Mom said you would be grounded forever for your next detention." Mari responded dramatically. "If you are grounded, you cannot go anywhere on Sunday even if it is our present for them. You have to find a way to fix this or it will ruin everything! Maybe you could go appeal to Mama right now. She sometimes is more lenient if I cry. You could try that? Maybe Mama would sign your detention without telling Mom?"

"What are the chances that Lena won't tell Stef what is going on? Seriously, they share everything. I am not good at crying on demand, so I do not think that would work out either. Maybe if I am called to the office during lunch you could go with me? You could cry and we could work together on this?" Callie asked hopefully.

"No way, Cals, no way. I am not getting involved in this one. You are my favorite sister and all. I will miss you if Mom kills you. However, I am not getting involved."

"Please? You have known Moms longer than I have. Being grounded together would be much better than being grounded alone…."

Callie's statement was interrupted by the intercom. "I need Callie Jacobs Adams Foster to come to the office right now."

"Wow, full named. Mama sounded pretty mad, Cals." Mariana sighed thoughtfully. "I guess I could tag along as you did send the text in question to me. Our room would be lonely without you after all.'

"Thanks, Mari!" Callie grabbed her sister's hand as she made her way to the office. "And for the record, I was not exactly full named. Technically, I am still Callie Jacobs only."

Walking to the office with her sister made Callie feel more confident and empowered until the time that she saw Stef waiting for her. Stef had her arms crossed and was looking rather annoyed to be called to school. The girls looked at each other and approached the office slowly.

"Thanks for walking Callie down here, Mariana. So kind of you to help you sister, but she does not require protecting from Mama or me so you are free to go." Stef said winking at her younger daughter. Impressed that the girls were this close.

Mariana gave Callie's hand a last squeeze and then left the office. Stef got Callie by the shoulders and guided her into Lena's office, sat her in a chair, and shut the door. "Since everyone except Mama is using their very short lunch breaks to be here right now, it would be best if we could just get this done quickly without any extra dramatics. So, Bug, hand over the slip."

Callie hesitated. Obviously everyone in the room knew that there was one, but she was still stalling. "Hmmm…. I cannot seem to remember what I did with it right now. It might take me a minute to find it."

Stef leaned over and grabbed the edge of pink she could see poking out of Callie's pocket. "Look, I was able to find it. No more delays, please, just pull it out."

Callie reached into her pocket and grabbed the slip, slowly unfolding it. She looked at the top. "Oh, this is not my detention slip. This is one for someone name Callie Foster. I am Callie Jacobs…."

Stef snorted. "Right. And this phone that looks just like yours, probably also belongs to Callie Foster and not to you. I think I will give it back to her…"

"Okay, that's enough from both of you." Lena said taking control. "Let's get down to school business first. You will be able to serve the detention today. Come to my office when it is over. Now, Callie, this is your fourth detention this school year. Your fifth one will result in a day of In School Suspension. So, I would suggest treading carefully. Mom's going to take your phone home today. During the school days, it will be on my desk and at home it will be in our room for at least a week. If we allow you to go anywhere else you will get it back for those times."

"I, personally, told you on detention number three that you would be grounded forever for your fourth. That was mostly meant to deter you from getting in trouble again. I suppose it was effective for a few weeks, but that isn't want I was hoping for. Forever is too long, but you are grounded from now until the end of the school year."

Up to this point, Callie had been staring at a spot on the floor, but Stef's last statement caught her attention. "Wait! There is still a whole month of school left! No way!"

"Let's review, shall we… You got your first detention for leaving school grounds after repeated warnings. We did not ground you at all. The second one was for the same reason, we grounded you for a weekend and the impromptu beach trips stopped. The third one was for being excessively tardy for the same class which you said it was not possible for you to make it there in time. However, after your week long grounding, you have not be late since. Grounding seems pretty effective to me. And there are only four weeks of school left, not a whole month. Your next detention will ground you for your entire summer break."

"But Jesus and Mariana have both been in more trouble than that this school year, why am I the only one who is grounded until the end of the year. That's unfair!"

"Callie, calm down please." Lena said gently. "This does not seem to be fair, but it is reality. We are trying to adopt you right now. However, you are still on probation. Principal Sanchez has already threatened to send in a poor report from the school. I can almost guarantee that landing yourself in ISS will not put you in a good light. Do you see what we are trying to say?"

"Yeah. If I screw up one more time I won't be grounded for summer break, because I will be sent back to juvie. I have been doing everything you say, I have been getting along with your kids, and I have tried to follow all the rules, but you are still giving up on my just like everyone else." Callie got up to storm out, but Stef grabbed her arm.

"First of all, no one said anything about juvie. Second, the phone rule is an easy one, Sweets. The message that could not wait until lunch just said you were bored. That is not trying to follow anyone's rules. If we were giving up on you, we would not have come after you when you ran away and we wouldn't be grounding you now."

Callie managed to wrench her arm from Stef. "I have to get to class so that I am not tardy. A simple tardy might be enough to earn me a spot on death row or something…"

"Okay, Bug, I know that you don't mean that. Take some time to think about it. We love you so much that we want you to be successful." Stef stood up and made an attempt to hug Callie.

"No, Stef. I don't want anything to do with either of you. I am going to go to class now. I am not going to class to please you, I am only going to get a good report so that I can stay with Jude." Callie stated evenly as she left the office.

"We love you, Callie!" Stef shouted after her knowing that her daughter could still hear her.

Both moms sat quietly for a moment thinking. Stef looked again at the messages in Callie's phone. "What time does Callie's lunch start?"

"At 11:30, why do you ask?"

"The message in question was sent at 11:32. Why would she have texted her sister that she was bored in class after lunch had already started? Plus, the kids are allowed to use their phones at lunch. Something about this is not adding up."

"Stef, can we save talking to Callie about this again until we get home? I think we could all use some time to cool off. I will also see if I can discuss it with her teacher between now and then." Lena sighed loudly. "It just feels like for every two steps forward we get with her, she also makes a step back… Stef, what if we find out that we have over-reacted to this situation? Four weeks seems a little long to me. Obviously, I will back you up, but you are also right when you say this doesn't add up. Callie has been fantastic both at home and school recently. Her grades have never been better. Callie's text does not even sound like her. Are you sure there weren't any others either sent or received before 11:30?"

"Love, I am certain. The text before this was last night. No phone calls either. I have to get back to work now, but how about you talk to Callie's teacher like you said. Then maybe before we talk to Callie, we can adjust accordingly. Sound good?" Stef asked standing up and walking over to Lena to kiss her good bye.

"Sounds perfect."

XXXXXXXX

Callie went through the next class at first feeling angry, and then feeling horribly guilty over the encounter she just had with both of her moms. Deep down, she knew that Stef and Lena did want good things for her. Her adoption would be more difficult if the school did not give a good report and Callie recognized Lena had a valid point.

"Callie? Would you like to share your thoughts on what we just read?" Timothy asked breaking Callie out of her current thoughts.

"What?" Callie asked slightly shaking her head causing the rest of the class to laugh a little.

"I would like you all to pull out your journals and write your response to this section of the play." Timothy said addressing the class who all began groaning. "Miss Jacobs, I need to see you in the hallway."

Callie cringed and quickly walked to the door trying not to look at any of her classmates on the way. Timothy was right behind her and kept the door propped a little so he could see the rest of the class. "I am sorry that I was not paying attention earlier, but please, Timothy, don't give me a detention." Callie bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying.

"Callie, I wasn't planning on giving you a detention. I was just concerned about you. How about you go get a drink of water and then go see your mom for a few minutes about whatever is going on?"

"No, I'll be fine. I'm already in enough trouble today without being sent out of your classroom." Callie pleaded with Timothy. "Lena would be so mad."

"Trying to avoid your mom is not a good idea. I promise both Lena and Stef want you to go to them when you need something. They love all of you very much. Now, I will give you the option. Either I will give you a detention for not paying attention in class or you may go talk to Lena. Your choice, Callie."

"I am already grounded for the rest of the school year for a detention that I got this morning. If I get another one I will be in ISS and grounded for the whole summer. But I cannot face Lena right now either. I just yelled at her in her office at lunch. And now that I am grounded, Mother's Day is ruined…"

"Okay, well, if I give you the detention I am still sending you down there. So, I guess your option is to go with or without your fifth detention slip. Does that make your choice easier?"

Callie still froze in the hallway a little unsure of what she was being told. Just then, Lena came around the corner and observed the situation before coming closer. "Lena!" Timothy exclaimed. "You are just in time to spare your daughter what appears to be a hard decision. Do you have a moment to speak with her? She is not in trouble with me, just having a hard time concentrating after a difficult morning."

Lena looked at Callie who was still avoiding her gaze. "I always have time for my Callie Girl. Actually I was just coming to check on how things were going since lunch anyway." Lena wrapped an arm around Callie's shoulder and started walking her back toward the office. Lena had already talked to Callie's teacher, but wanted to talk to Stef about it first. This could just be another moment to reassure her oldest daughter of her love again.


	8. Chapter 8

Lena sent a calmed down Callie back to class and then called her wife. "Okay, Love, here is what I can piece together on what happened with our little Love Bug this morning. She received a text and texted back during class time. She was then caught with her phone out and it was taken. He allowed her to delete the other messages and she sent the odd one at the same time."

"Okay, well do you know who she was writing to during class or what it was about that she would need to delete it before we got her phone? I mean, are we looking at a drug deal or a shoe sale sort of text?"

"It wasn't a drug deal. From what I gathered, the texts were from one of our other children. Actually, Callie was so concerned about not wanting us to read the messages that her teacher said she requested up to three days of detention instead of sending her phone to the office. Something about us being easier to deal with than her brothers and sister. Apparently, she forgot your threat because keeping her Mother's Day secret was more important to her than being grounded."

"I am less scary that Jude and Mariana? Really? I mean, I knew you weren't scary, but me, come on, I am the mean one."

"So, where do we go from here, Stef?" Lena said to get back on topic. "Timothy already sent Callie back down here because she was having a hard time in class after she left the office. The teacher who gave her the detention really did not want to, he said that she was doing very well in his class and had no complaints. Her phone can't be out in class and she does need to learn there are consequences when she breaks rules, but four weeks…."

"I am already taking the kids to Ikea on Saturday. She cannot get out of that trip. The kids are planning to take us to the beach, or somewhere, on Sunday. We can't really ground her from that. Therefore, we explain that the four week grounding is a little flexible as we understand the circumstances.

"I am beginning to agree with you that we should have just taken the kids to the mall and gotten store bought presents like we did that one year with Brandon. If all of this drama is because of one day, I am not sure it is worth it."

XXXXXX

Callie sat in detention working on some homework. "So, Miss Foster, how long are you grounded for?"

Callie started to glare in his direction instead of answering, but then she remembered that he had been sympathetic with her earlier. "The rest of the school year. If I get another one, I will have a day of ISS and be grounded for the entire summer break."

"Ouch. Four weeks is a long time. I did speak with your mother earlier and put in a good word for you. She wanted to know about the texts. I told her that they were a secret between you and your siblings and that you deleted them. I am hoping that does not get you into more trouble."

"Thanks for letting me delete them." Callie glanced toward the doorway when she thought she saw someone walk by.

"I think your brothers and sister are all waiting for you in the hallway." Her teacher said noticing where Callie was looking. "You have served thirty minutes and you are free to go with them."

"Thanks again." Callie said as she gathered her books and left the room. Sure enough, all four of the other Foster siblings were waiting for her. "You know that you guys didn't really need to wait for me, right?"

"It really wasn't a problem. This way we call all hitch a ride home with Lena to make up for yesterday." Brandon said smiling at her.

"We also have an idea for Mama, but we all need to go talk to her together." Jude grabbed Callie's hand and started dragging her toward Lena's office.

When they arrived, Jesus knocked on the door all they all went in surprising Lena slightly. "Oh, I was just expecting Callie! What are the rest of you still doing here?"

"I got some extra wrestling practice in…." "I wanted to use the school's piano…" "I got some help from my math teacher…" The boys answered at once.

"We really just didn't want to leave without Callie, Mama. We knew she had a bad day and it was sort of all of our faults." Mariana explained.

"So, we didn't even tell Callie this yet, but we shared in her crime and we want to share her punishment. However long she is grounded for, we would like you to divide it into five pieces and give some to each of us. It is only fair, Mama!" Jude said flashing his innocent smile towards his mother.

Callie looked at each of her siblings and back to her mother. "Really, guys, it is no big deal. Stef warned me on my last detention that his one would be harder. I knew that I could get in trouble to having my phone out and I did it anyway. It is sweet of you, but you don't have to take the fall for me."

"Mama, I sent the text that Callie was responding to. I was on my lunchtime, but I knew she wasn't. I could have waited until after school to have sent it." Brandon said defending Callie. "So, I deserve something."

"Callie said it is always better to be grounded together than alone. I don't mind serving the time with my only sister just this once."

"Family sticks together, Mama, and Callie is my sister. She helped me out last week when I would have been in trouble for coming in late…" Jesus confessed before he stopped realizing what he was saying.

Jude came and grabbed his sister's hand again snuggling close. "Callie, you have taken punishments from me lots of times. This time we went to help you."

"I really don't want to make a decision about this without talking to your mom." Lena was obviously touched by what the kids said and knew Stef would be also. "Let's all go home now, we can start dinner and then maybe I can talk you Mom and we can tell you guys over supper. Sound good?"

XXXXX

All the kids volunteered to help with supper which was a first at the Adams Foster household. Lena had Jesus working to put together a salad, Brandon and Jude grilling chicken outside, and the girls making cookies for dessert. It left her being able to just spend time with the kids. She knew, though, that they only volunteered in hopes that their mother's discussion would go their way. Lena would take that.

Stef came home to see her kids and her wife peacefully laughing and working on supper together. She smiled to see Callie back to herself again and interacting with everyone well. Stef went to put her gun away and then game back to greet each of her babies and her wife with a kiss taking a little extra time with Callie.

"Hey, Stef, the kids are making dinner tonight. I need your opinion on something they brought up earlier. Can I see you upstairs in our room for a few minutes?"

Stef sat down on their bed. "Lena, I have been thinking a lot this afternoon between going to school and our phone calls…."

Lena interrupted. "Stef, before you go any further, you need to know what the other kids did. All of them waited around after school until Callie's detention was over. Then, they came to the office and asked me to divide up Callie's punishment equally for all of them." Lena could feel the tears starting to burn in her eyes before they started rolling down her cheeks. "If you asked me last week if I thought our kids would stand up for each other this way, I would have said no. But, Honey, we are doing something right."

Stef reached over and held her wife. "I was going to say that we should shorten Callie's grounding to two weeks or less, but this seems better. If you had asked me this afternoon about our kids I would not have suspected a bond this strong."

XXXXXX

After the moms headed up the stairs, the kids had a meeting of their own. "Okay, Mari, did you find out the price of lamps at Ikea?" Brandon asked.

Mariana pulled out her phone and showed the others the Ikea website. "Yes. I think we are looking at about fifty dollars per lamp. Which means we will all owe around thirty dollars each just to replace those. Now, there are some cheaper options that are nice looking, it would lower our bill if we could convince Mom to go for the less expensive choices."

"Mama should have to buy one of them… We didn't break Jude's lamp. Which by the way, little bro, see if you can find a lamp for less than twenty dollars. I don't even have thirty dollars to put in for the lamps…."

"If that's the case, Jesus, we have a bigger issue. Zoo tickets are almost fifty dollars apiece, making it like three hundred and fifty dollars for a family of seven. I still think they are a good idea, but I have no idea how we can afford them. On the other hand, a year membership for all of us would only be about twenty-five dollars more. Then we could go whenever we wanted for the entire year."

"You guys still have your phones, right?" Callie asked and everyone else gave affirmative answers. "Call the grandparents. They shouldn't have to pay for the lamps, but if they would help us with zoo memberships it would help their daughters have a great Mother's Day. It is worth a shot, right?"

It was decided that Mariana should call Dana, Jesus should call Stuart, and Brandon should call Sharon. Callie would check on the food again as she didn't have a phone to use. Jude went back into the house and stood at the bottom of the stairs ready to distract the moms if they were to come down. He was secretly hoping the others would be done before the moms came down the stairs because Jude wasn't very good at misleading either of them.

Fortunately, Jude was not needed. All the grandparents agreed to support the cause, but also all three decided to fly to San Diego for the weekend. Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon all extended the invitation to come. The kids figured that bringing in their moms' moms as well as the zoo memberships would count as a gift from the heart for Lena. Also, no one could truly be grounded when the grandparents were there. Now it was just a matter of deciding where they could stay and how to break the news to their moms. It was decided that Jude was the cutest and therefore would be the spokesperson for the group.

Jude set the table as the others brought food, condiments, and drinks. The moms came down and smiled at the initiative the kids were making for dinner preparations. Everyone sat down and starting putting food on their plates. Stef cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Mama and I thought about your offer. We had originally grounded Callie for basically four weeks. If you all really are willing to share it, we would be happy with five days for each of you. All of you will still be going with me to Ikea on Saturday, even though you are grounded until Tuesday. We are also willing to let Sunday be a free day as long as the whole family is doing something together. That is our offer if you are willing to take it."

None of the kids really wanted to be grounded, but all were willing to accept for Callie. They also realized their news might not go over well already. So, everyone readily agreed.

"We have something to tell you guys, too. As part of your Mother's Day surprises, all the grandparents are all coming for the weekend! They will be here Friday night and they are leaving on Monday morning!" Jude was genuinely excited to see the grandparents as he had never had this much family before.

Stef and Lena looked at each other before Stef decided to speak for both of them, "You are telling me that you used your last few moments with phones to call your grandparents and invite them to spend the weekend with us despite your offer and everything else? Are you trying to torture us? Are you all crazy? Today is Wednesday, Friday is just two days from now!"

"Your moms really wanted to spend quality time with their only daughters and grandchildren. I, for one, don't think it is crazy to want to spend time with my family." Jesus said trying to keep a straight face. "Besides, we could have told you about it Friday after school."

Jude looked a little troubled. "Will you not want to spend time with us when we are grown-ups with kids or will we not want to see you?"

"Honey, we will always want to spend time with you and we will want to spend lots of time with our grandbabies. Sometimes when our mothers come things are a little tense, but I promise we both love our mothers very much. We love it that you all invited them to come spend the weekend. The only issues are that is very short notice and we would like to be involved before invitations are given. Everything is okay in this case, though. My parents can stay in Brandon's room and he can stay in the boys' room. Sharon can stay in the girls' room and they can stay on the couches. See, Jude, there is always room for our family here." Lena said realizing how much Jude takes things to heart.

"Oh good! I cannot even imagine having a time that I didn't want to spend time with you, Mama or with you, Mom. I want to spend every Mother's Day with you guys!" Jude proclaimed happily.

"I hope you always feel that way, Bud." Stef said with a smile. She could tell that a few of the others around the table were not exactly having those same thoughts at this moment. Stef's constant fear was that when her babies had the chance, at least one would leave and never come back. Her number one concern currently being Callie, but had been each of the other three big ones over the last few months.


	9. Chapter 9

When Stef went into the girls' room to say good night Callie was ready with a question she had been pondering all evening long. "So, Lena told us somewhat about what happened between her and her mom, but you haven't told us anything. Were you close to your mom when you were a kid or did your issues happen when you were an adult?"

Stef was taken aback by the question, but decided that she could share at least one story with the girls before bed especially since Callie asked. "How about you guys lay down and I tell you this story as you go to sleep, sound good?" Both girls responded by getting into their beds. Stef gave them both kisses before she started. "Growing up I was always a daddy's girl. My mom and I butted heads at times, but for the most part we did okay. Our relationship was probably the most damaged when I told her I was getting married…."

_Stef showed Mike the home pregnancy test. "But Stef, we only slept together once or maybe twice! There is no way that you are pregnant!"_

_ "__Seriously, Mike? That's what you are going with?" Stef asked raising her eyebrows at him slightly. Stef had been desperately trying to please her estranged father. They had been very close when she was a child, but most of the closeness changed a few years back when he caught her on the couch with a girl. Then, with the divorce, Stef saw him less and less. Mike, whom Stef met at the police academy, was part of that plan. Pregnancy was not._

_ "__Okay, we may have been together a few more times than that… What are we going to do about this? Should we get rid of the baby? Should we get married? What will our parents say?" The realization was setting into Mike now and he was beginning to panic._

_ "__We have been dating awhile now. Maybe we should get married after we graduate from the academy next month?" Stef didn't want to end the pregnancy, but also could not see herself as a single parent. After all, this marriage was part of her plan all the time. _

_ "__Okay." Mike answered after a minute or two. "I guess we need to tell our parents we are getting married. Where should we start?" It wasn't much of a proposal, but Stef really wasn't sure how all of that was supposed to go either. _

_Stef's father would not be pleased that she was pregnant, but he did like Mike. "Let's call my dad first, then your parents, and then my mom."_

_They made the first two phone calls and despite some disappointment on the behalf of the parents, all three had given their blessing on the union. That only left Stef's mother, Sharon to call. "Hello, mom? Mike and I wanted to tell you something. We have decided to get married!"_

_ "__Please, tell me you are not pregnant, Stef." Sharon muttered under her breath._

_ "__Well, Mom, I could tell you that, but there is evidence to the contrary. We are expecting a baby. I think I am about two months along. We will know more after I go to the doctor. Mike and I think it would be best to get married before the baby comes, so we want to plan it for right after graduation. What do you think, Mom?_

_ "__Is Mike on the line with us, Sweetheart?"_

_ "__Yes, I am Sharon." Mike answered brightly._

_ "__Congratulations. It was good speaking with you Mike, but now I would like to just talk to my daughter for a few moments if that's okay with you."_

_ "__No problem. I have some stuff I need to get done anyway. We will talk again soon, right?" Mike asked a little less sure than he was earlier._

_ "__Of course." When Sharon heard the click of his phone she continued. "Stef, you CANNOT marry that boy! Just because he got you knocked up does not mean that marriage is a good idea! Do you even love him?"_

_ "__Yes, I love him, Mom! We aren't just getting married because I am having his baby, we have been thinking about marriage for a while." Stef lied in hopes of convincing her mother._

_ "__Stef, listen to me! This marriage would be a mistake for both of you. If you go through with it, I will attend, but I won't be able to help you with it. He is a nice enough boy, but he just isn't the one for you."_

_ "__Mom! How can you of all people even judge that for me? I think you are just upset because your marriage didn't work out. Anyway, we don't need your help. You don't even have to attend if you don't want to. This is what we are going to do whether or not you like it!"_

_ "__But, Stef, darling, does he give you butterflies? Does he make your heart flutter? When you have found the right one for you everything will line up." Sharon paused here and then Stef could hear she was choking back her emotions. "Marriage is hard, Baby. It is only harder if you start it for the wrong reason with the wrong person."_

_ "__I love him, Mom and that is all the matters. It isn't about fluttering insects. We are going to get married and raise our child together. It's the right thing to do. Mike is going to make a great husband and father. We aren't like you."_

_ "__Well, if this is really what you want, I will be there for your wedding and for my grandbaby's birth. I love you, Baby!" Sharon also knew that she would be there later to pick up the pieces._

"But wait, Mom, Grandma was all over your wedding with Mama. So, this isn't why you didn't want us to invite her for this weekend." Mariana said sleepily.

"Yes, my mom was very into my wedding with your mama. That's because your mama is the right one for me. My mom confessed when I finally came out as a lesbian that she had known since I was little girl. She did not want me to lock myself into a bad marriage that was doomed from the beginning because Mike was not that person. I get it now."

"So really, you just don't want your mom around because she knows what is best for you and still wants to be in charge of you?" Callie asked with a small smirk.

"Pretty much sums it up." Mariana answered her sister.

"And isn't that what you guys tell us like all the time? You know what is best and that you are in charge? You are so just exactly like your mom."

"Mama told Jude tonight that we would always want to spend time with you and with our grandbabies. Where that is true, I am also secretly hoping that you will both have little children of your own someday who do super sneaky things like invite us over for the weekend without telling you. Then, I think you will understand better. I know I do. Then I will have the satisfaction of your children pointing out that you are exactly like your mom as well." Stef answered giving each girl another kiss before heading towards Brandon's room.

A sleepy Lena entered the room as Stef was leaving. "Did Jude get to sleep okay?" Callie asked recognizing that he had been very tired this evening and an earlier bedtime didn't hurt him.

"Yep. I laid down with him until I guess we both went to sleep." Yawning again she went and kissed both of her daughters. "By the way, I really am not upset that you invited my parents here for the weekend. Sometimes my mom does upset me, but I really do like that you guys were willing to call them. I always wanted children and I always hoped that despite my volatile relationship with my mother that my kids would love her and vice versa. Thanks for taking that step. I love you girls both very much!"

"Love you, too!" They answered as she turned off their light. She knew that her kids were getting too big for her to put to bed like this all the time. To Lena, though, these were the moments that she could really be their mama. All of kids came to Lena long after their toddler years, especially Callie and Jude. By sometimes laying down with them, tucking them in, or turning off their light, she felt like she was getting back some of those early years she missed.

After Callie was sure that Lena left she quietly whispered over to her sister, "Mariana! Why did you guys basically tell Lena and Stef to ground you in my place? Last time you were just grounded for a weekend I thought we would never hear the end of it. Now, you volunteer to be punished? It just doesn't make sense to me."

"Last night when Moms got on to Jude, you were watching out for him. Why?"

"I didn't want Jude to get in trouble. My mom told me to always keep him safe. I have lived through some difficult times with him. Even though knew he was safe here, I had to make sure. What does that have to do with what I asked you?"

"Don't you see? If Moms were going to punish him, you would have gotten in the middle of it. When we were little, Jesus was that person for me. Brandon has gotten Jesus and me out of trouble more times than I can count. Last week you even helped Jesus sneak back in undetected. We are siblings and it is just what we do for each other."

Both girls jumped when Stef loudly banged on their door. "Go to sleep, girls! You are going to bed a little early to catch up on sleep, not to talk all night long!" Stef smiled and winked at Lena who was also in the hallway. They could not hear what the girls were saying, but they did know the sisters were bonding a little more every night.

Mariana crept over toward Callie's bed and crawled in with her so they would be quieter. "By the way, Cals, I am not certain how much trouble you got in with Moms tonight. I can really only guess by how you have been awkwardly skittish tonight. A few days ago you said you were temporary here still. Today, Mom grounded you for four weeks and threatened your whole summer break."

"I was also told that the school would give a bad report to my probation officer, but yes, excessive amounts of grounding for a small offense definitely happened."

"You aren't temporary, Cals. Moms could never ground a temporary person for all of summer break. Plus, Moms also said that Jesus and I were temporary. Mom doesn't like anyone to know this about her, but she is the one who rushes to adopt everyone who enters this house. I may not have been super friendly at first, but I realized almost immediately that you were permanent."

"You mean there were no foster kids between you and me?" Callie questioned starting to fall asleep.

"Nope and Cals? Just because you get in trouble doesn't mean that they aren't your moms. It can't be that every time you are in trouble they become just my moms again. Remember how Mom says she knows what's best for us? Sometimes grounding is what is best."

Lena peeked back in the doorway a few minutes later to give another warning to her girls. She motioned Stef over. "Look, our babies fell asleep all cuddled together on Callie's bed!"

Stef took out her phone and took a picture. "I will send this to you… And then I will use it as blackmail for them later."

Lena carefully shut the door to make sure she didn't wake them before taking Stef by the hand and leading her back into their room.


	10. Chapter 10

Thursday everything went smoothly. The kids attended class and sat outside of Lena's office quietly doing homework until she was ready to take them home. Jude volunteered to help with dinner while the others quietly scattered about the house.

"Boy it is quiet in here." Stef said to herself as she came through the door from work. She went upstairs to lock up her gun and then started searching the house for her family. Callie was in the kids' bathroom cleaning the sink. From the looks of things, she was just about finished cleaning the whole room. The heavy smell of cleaner gave Stef almost an instant headache when she opened the door all the way. "Oh Bug, it looks great in here, but how about if we open the window and the doors up to air the room a bit?"

"I am just about finished anyway." Callie shrugged.

"As I said, it looks great. Thanks for your help." Stef gave the girl a quick kiss on her head before going to look for the rest of the family. Callie was quieter than usual, but Stef thought it would be best to see if Lena knew why before prying anything out of Callie.

Mariana was found vacuuming Brandon's room. Stef was stunned. She approached her daughter and turned the vacuum off. "Hey, Miss Thing!" Mariana looked up and gave Stef a small smile. "Wow! You are being very helpful. Vacuuming your brother's room?"

"Yeah, I vacuumed my room and just thought I might as well do a little more." Stef looked back into the hallway and realized it had also been recently done.

"Hmmm…. Your sister is cleaning the bathroom and you are vacuuming the whole upstairs. Do you know where the others are?" Stef questioned her younger daughter.

"I think Mama and Jude are making dinner." Mariana shrugged like Callie. "The boys are around somewhere probably."

Stef gave her daughter a kiss. As Stef left the room, she heard the vacuum start up again. Mariana's behavior shocked her more than Callie's. Last time Mariana was forced to vacuum, she whined about it until she was grounded. Stef reasoned that Lena must have had a horrible day with the kids and had already disciplined Mariana harshly enough to subdue her into quiet obedience. Her pace quickened as she wanted to find her other children.

Jesus was outside mowing the lawn. Stef noticed that he had already bagged most of the sticks and leaves before he started. She always asked him to do this task (in order to not break the lawn mower), but he usually skipped this step. Stef got the boy's attention. He turned off the lawn mower and walked over to her. She kissed his head, but kept her distance as he was sweaty.

"The yard is looking good, Son. Thanks for cleaning up the yard before you mowed. You may want to hose off out here before you go in as Callie will kill you if you get her freshly cleaned bathroom messed up." Jesus gave a genuine smile (the first Stef saw on any of her kids that afternoon).

"Okay, Mom." Jesus started edging his way back toward the lawn mower to prevent any more conversation.

Stef walked back inside the house and found Lena, Jude, and Brandon in the kitchen. "Hey, Babies!" She greeted.

"Mom!" Jude said excitedly as he ran over to hug her. "I thought I heard you come in earlier, but then I didn't see you so I wasn't sure."

Stef kissed her youngest son's head, "I just had to go put my gun away and then I was checking on your brother and sisters. What's going on in here?"

"Well, Love, Jude said he would help me with dinner. Brandon has just been hanging around her waiting for you." Lena answered as she went over to kiss her wife. Jude watched them and smiled just a little as Brandon turned away in disgust.

"Hmmm… I was hoping to catch up with you before dinner, but I guess I can check out what B needs first. After dinner I want to hear how your day went, okay?" Lena looked at Stef strangely, but shrugged and nodded. "Please tell me that you have not picked up that shrugging habit from our girls! You are so like them."

Lena grinned. "Everything around here is fine as far as I know, Stef. And you better believe that my girls are just like me! Except I am pretty sure the older one is your mini-me."

"Callie is my girl." Stef said reflectively. "Almost as much as Jude, here, is your boy. Am I right, Little Man?" Stef said grabbing and tickling him.

"Yes, Mom!" Jude laughed as he wiggled away and looked back up at her with big eyes. "Really, though, I am not just Mama's son, I belong to both of you."

"That you do. After all, you are an Adams Foster. So, Jude, as my little boy, I know that Brandon has been waiting for me, but I thought maybe you and I could talk for just a few minutes in the family room right now before I see to him. What do you say?"

Jude looked scared which confused Stef greatly. She looked back at Lena who shrugged again. Then Brandon intervened. "Mom, I really do need to talk to you really fast about something. It is important. Maybe you could talk to Jude later?"

"Sure B." Brandon led Stef into the family room and started in a long spiel about his piano lessons, school, and several other random topics. Stef sat and listened for what seemed like hours although she realized it had only been about ten minutes.

"I am sorry to cut you off there, Son, but I have something to ask you. What is going on around here today? All of you are acting strangely. Did something happen at school or on the way home?" Stef knew that if she could not talk to Jude or Jesus, Brandon was her next best choice.

"Nothing is going on here today. I think everyone had a good day. We all got our homework done in front of the office. No one got detention. No one argued on the way home. I would say it was good. Why would you ask?"

"No reason. I guess since Jesus was done with his homework he decided it would be a good day to mow the lawn? Did you help him get started?"

"Jesus is mowing?" Brandon almost asked convincingly. "I guess he just noticed it needed to be done with the grandparents coming and all. We are all still grounded, it isn't like there is anything else to do around here."

"Is that all you need from me Brandon? I mean, I love to spend time with you, but I think I want to talk to your mama minute before we eat if that's okay. How about you go finish up with Jude?" Stef hugged Brandon and kissed his cheek before going back into kitchen and snatching Lena. Dinner was really finished anyway, it was just a matter of getting the food and the kids to the table.

Stef drug Lena all the way up the stairs. On the way, they passed Mariana who had finished vacuuming the entire upstairs part of the house. "Hey Miss Thing, dinner is almost ready. Go get Jesus to wash up and help the boys set the table."

Stef glanced in the master bedroom and saw Callie cleaning the bathroom, so she took Lena into the girls' room which was unusually spotless. "What happened today at school, Love?"

"Nothing noteworthy, I am not sure why you ask. I got no bad reports on any of our children. Everyone did their homework without complaint outside of my office. We got home and I really haven't heard a peep out of any of them all afternoon."

"They were quiet and not complaining all afternoon and you don't think that is noteworthy? So why were my kids cleaning this afternoon? Did you ask them to get ready for their grandparents?"

"No. Come to think of it that is unusual. In fact, I am not sure the last time I saw this room without Callie's shoes left out or one of Mari's several clothing changes left on the floor. I guess I sort of thought you had put some sort of fear in their hearts to make them work."

"Are you sure you brought the right kids home from school today? I know that your school has many teenagers…."

"Oh, I hadn't considered that, Stef. Perhaps you are right. We never had a blonde boy before tonight. I knew that Jesus looked funny." Lena said glaring at her wife's bad humor. "Yes, they are our kids. No, I didn't ask them to do any of the random chores they have done today. I also didn't ask Brandon to just hang out with Jude and me. I think, though, he was both distracting me and not leaving Jude alone."

"Interesting theory. I think I have a few ideas to get down to the heart of whatever is going on. Follow my lead at dinner."

XXXXXX

Dinner was rather quiet. Jesus had somehow cleaned himself up okay. Stef decided that would be the best place to start. "So, Jesus, I really like how well you mowed the lawn today. What did you do with the clothes you were wearing?"

"I left them outside along with my old shoes. I took your advice and hosed off outside. Then Brandon brought me new shorts and a shirt to wear. I would hate to track grass all over the house."

"We would hate that, too, Jesus. That was very forward thinking on your part." Lena praised her son for his lack of impulsivity that he normally displayed. "Wouldn't you agree, Stef?"

"Yes. It is much better than when you tracked mud all over the house a couple of weeks ago. It shows that you have really grown up."

"Thanks, Moms! I try, you know." Jesus answered proudly.

Stef had expected on of the other kids to speak up and take credit for Jesus's forward thinking. She was disappointed when they all went back to silence. So, she tried her next move. "I saw that all the bedrooms upstairs look perfect for your grandparents' stay. Tomorrow, when you all get home, I need clean sheets on both beds in the girls' room and on Brandon's bed. Then, I need you all to look out everything you will need for the weekend. B, you need to take your stuff into the boys' room. You guys can work out sleeping arrangements however you would like. Girls, your weekend stuff needs to go into our room because I do not want it in the family room. I will be going alone to pick up your grandparents tomorrow afternoon. Any questions on that?"

All of the kids shook their heads or said no. "Good. Friday night you will want to get to bed early because Saturday morning, I will be waking you all very early. Ikea opens at eight and want to be there when it opens so that we don't waste the whole day. We will have to leave here by seven since it takes about an hour to drive there. Mama is going to sleep in and you all claim to hate my breakfast. Therefore I am thinking you guys will have to figure it out among yourselves. Showers will also have to be done early. If you want the first shower, Mariana, I would set your alarm for around 5:30. I think that is a bit earlier than when you normally wake up." Stef paused here waiting for Mariana to whine or Callie to blow up knowing as the best cook her siblings would be asking her for breakfast.

Still no one said a word. Stef decided it was time to pull out her biggest card. She looked at her watch obviously. "Jude, there is still time for Conner to come over and play some video games tonight. We will have visitors all weekend so you may not get another change for several days. You may be excused if you want to go call him."

Jude hopped up from the table and then remembered that he didn't have his phone. "May I have my phone back so that I can call him?" He asked looking between his moms. The other kids were now watching closely.

"Sure, buddy." Lena said taking her cue from Stef. "Your phone is on our dresser. Go ahead and grab it. Make sure you leave the others there, though."

The others were silent, but now sort of brooding as Jude ran up the stairs with excitement. Finally, Jesus broke the silence and received glares from the other three. "So, may I grab my phone and go hang out with Emma tonight."

"No." Stef answered simply.

Jesus looked angry, "Why not?"

"Because you are grounded. That means that you don't get your phone and you don't get to hang out with your friends." Lena answered him.

"Can I at least play video games with Jude and Conner tonight?"

"No. You are grounded and you may not play video game, Jesus. I am not sure why you are not getting this. You have been grounded before, so I think you should realize what it entails."

"But isn't Jude grounded, too?" Jesus protested. "Just because he is little and cute shouldn't mean that he isn't treated like everyone else!" Jesus left the table and ran up the stairs.

"Does anyone else object to Jude no longer being grounded?" Lena casually asked. The other three kids shook their heads a little, but were noticeably unhappy. "Good. Tonight was his night to do the dishes. Brandon I want you to take his place. Go ahead and get started. The girls will help clear the table." Lena knew that dishes were Brandon's least favorite chore.

"But I did the dishes last night with Mari…" Brandon complained a bit.

"That's a good point, B, but the girls cleaned house all afternoon while you just stood around." Lena explained. "Unless of course you were doing something else?"

"I had to talk to Mom about something. Besides, I was helping them, wasn't I, Callie?"

All eyes were now on Callie. She knew that Brandon was crumbling under pressure. "Yes. He helped. You know, I should just do the dishes tonight. This was really my grounding anyway."

"No, it is okay, Bug. I asked Brandon to do the dishes and that it what will happen. Unless his task was to not leave Jude alone and to distract Mom, he wasn't really helping you guys. If that was his job, he can still wash dishes now."

Callie and Mariana looked at each other and realized that their mothers were slowly turning all the kids against each other and they determined to hold strong. Stef saw their resolve, when they did not react earlier, but still decided she would continue to push buttons. The doorbell rang and Lena went to let Conner in the house.

"So, Bug, Mama and I were thinking that this summer you could probably pick up an extra group session every week since I think they are an excellent use of your free time." Stef knew that Lena would hate her lying about group, but also knew this would be Callie's undoing.

"NO WAY! I will do anything other than that! Please, Mom! Talk Mama out of it! You know that I hate group!" Callie practically yelled while begging.

"Okay, if you will do ANYTHING like you say….. Mariana you are free to go. Callie, I have some questions for you to answer for me. When you open up and answer my questions, I will see that you don't need it and I will tell Mama." Mariana started to stand up to leave. "Actually, Baby, go get the vacuum and start on the family room if you would."

Mariana looked disappointed, but did what she was told without complaint. She knew that Callie would hold back as much as possible, but also knew that her mother would get all the information she was after. Lena walked back into the room to join them unsure on how Stef got the children down to one.

"I know that neither of us asked you guys to do extra chores. I appreciate the effort, but I also don't understand it. What are you guys trying to cover up?"

"Nothing." Callie sighed when she saw that Stef was not going to let it go with that. "We talked about it and decided that since we invited our grandparents, we would clean up for them. You guys both have work and the stress of not being in charge or knowing what is best all weekend…."

"My daughter is so funny." Stef said with a small smile she was trying to cover up. "Seriously, Bug that was a lame joke."

"I wonder where our daughter gets her bad sense of humor from, Stef. Oh, wait, she is your mini me and reminds me more of you every day." Lena said smirking at her wife.

"Okay. So you only had good indentations there. How did your grandparents get invited this weekend anyway? No one ever explained that to us."

"Well, some of the others called them to ask a question. One thing lead to another. Soon they had all bought tickets. We couldn't exactly not invite them when they asked to come, right?"

"No, I guess not. One more question, Callie. Are we going to the beach on Sunday?" Stef asked hopefully.

"You will to wait and see… Did I answer enough to show you guys that I don't need an extra group session this summer?"

"What do you mean extra group, Callie? I was considering taking you down to just once a week." Stef elbowed her wife slightly. "Oh, that group. Well, we will take this into advisement as we are planning the summer. You may go now if you come give us hugs."

"Wait, this was all made up just to find out what was going on, wasn't it? For real, Stef? That was low. Can't you just wait for your surprised like everyone else?" Callie asked teasing back some.

"I'll surprise you!" Stef said as she tapped Callie's bottom and heard her daughter giggle some. "Yes, I made it up, but not really to get the secret as much as just wanting to know what was going on in my house with my kids. If you all were not so sneaky, I wouldn't have tricked you. Keep that in mind in the future."


	11. Chapter 11

Lena went to find Jesus before he hurt Jude or Conner. Jesus could not hold much of a grudge, especially against his brothers and sisters. In her explanation to him, Lena was tempted to tell him that his mother had not used her forward thinking. However, she knew better, so she told him instead that Jude would still be grounded after tonight. Jesus accepted it, but Lena was still a bit irritated with Stef. Not only had she stirred up trouble among the kids, but she had also used therapy against Callie. Lena wanted to show a united front with Stef in front of the kids and knew their fight would have to wait until later. In the meantime, Mariana was now vacuuming the rest of the downstairs area and Conner had just gone home.

"Callie, Jude, and Brandon! I need to see you guys downstairs right now!" Lena yelled up the stairs breaking her own household rule. Jude came wandering down, but the other two were not responding. "BRANDON AND CALLIE FOSTER! DOWN HERE NOW!" She yelled again louder as Jude covered his ears slightly. He had never seen Lena quite like this before.

This time she heard footsteps immediately on the stairs. Brandon made it down first clearly panicked. "What's wrong, Mama?" Brandon asked panting.

Callie was just behind him. "That would Callie Jacobs." Callie said not realizing until she saw that Lena was truly not in the mood when she received a glare. "Umm, not meaning to be disrespectful or anything… Mama."

"Callie said you guys were cleaning up for your grandparents' arrival. Callie, you have already cleaned the two bathrooms upstairs. I need to you do the one downstairs. Brandon, you did the dishes at dinner, but I would also like the kitchen cleaned. That is counters and floors. Jude, the vacuuming is nearly done down here, but there is still some mess. I would like everything dusted and straightened. Anything that belongs upstairs needs to be taken there. Go to it."

Jude sighed, but promptly went about his task. Brandon and Callie both balked some. "I know that Mari is vacuuming, but what is Jesus doing?" Brandon questioned his mother.

"That is none of your concern. Your only concern needs to be getting the kitchen clean." Lena glared at each of her oldest two again as neither moved.

"Stef didn't say that I needed to clean anymore when I talked to her." Callie whined some. "Besides, I already worked more than Brandon or Jude…"

"And only Stef can give you chores? You know I can be scarier Mom, right? Do we need to go there right now?" This interaction only served to make Lena angrier with her wife which was easily transferred to her children.

Callie and Brandon made eye contact and both hurried off to complete the jobs given to them before experiencing Lena's wrath. Callie practically ran into Stef. "Hey, Sweets! Where's the fire?" Stef joked. She promptly received a scowl from her daughter. "Hey, I do not like that look! What's going on, Bug?"

"Nothing. I just have work to get done and I don't have time to talk to you right now." Callie replied with an edge to her voice as she pushed past Stef.

"Watch your attitude with me, Bug." Stef said gently. This interaction seemed odd based on the conversation that Stef had with Callie after dinner just an hour and a half ago. Stef found Brandon furiously sweeping the kitchen. She knew he had been upset by doing the dishes earlier, but after cool down time, he was usually fine. "Hey, B! Do you need some help there, Son?"

"Nope."

"Are you still upset about Mama asking you to do the dishes earlier?"

"Nope."

"What's going on, Brandon and don't you dare say 'nope' again?"

"Nothing, Mom. I just need to get the kitchen cleaned up. We have visitors coming tomorrow, you know."

Stef reasoned that her kids had been cleaning earlier for their grandparents, but this felt different. Stef went searching for Lena. She was sure that this time the kids had done something to bring out the Mama Tiger in her. Lena was in their bedroom on the bed with her hands over her face. Stef smiled to herself as she laid down next to her wife and kissed her cheek. "Whatever they did, Babe, it will be okay. Callie and Brandon are cleaning exactly how you asked."

"Great. But Stef, please don't touch me right now. This is not really about them."

"If it isn't about our horrible children, what it is? You can tell me anything."

"Oh, we will talk about it later when our children have gone to bed. Until then, go supervise them or something. I would ask you to help clean up, but we both know how it went the last several times I have asked for your help. Right now, just go."

Stef was a little confused about all of this. "So, you are not mad at the kids, you are mad at me?"

"I don't want to get into it right now, Stef. Right now, I want you to just leave me alone. The kids are finishing up the cleaning. I just want you to make sure they finish. It is a perfect role for you since you are the one really in charge and all.'

"I am not the only one in charge. We are a team…."

Lena interrupted. "We cannot do this right now. Just go deal with your children. We will definitely talk about this later."

Stef left the room irritated and quickly stumbled upon Jesus lifting weights in his room. "Get back to work, Boy! Your mama wants the house spotless before you go to bed tonight."

Jesus paused and looked at his mother. "I mowed the lawn. Mama said that was good enough for me since Jude got to be ungrounded for tonight."

"Hmmm…" Stef considered his words, but figured since her and Lena were already due for a fight, she didn't want to add in that she did not make Jesus work after being told to deal with the kids. "Well, that isn't good enough for me. You can start off by sweeping the entry way and stairs. When you are done with that come back in here and straighten your room to how it looked this afternoon."

Stef's foul mood had spread to Jesus by this time. "But Mom…."

"Right now, Young Man. It won't take you more than a few minutes if you go now. You heard me, Go!"

Jesus reluctantly went downstairs to get started. Stef followed him down and saw Jude trying to carry all five back packs and a few pairs of shoes upstairs. She quickly took the backpacks and helped him get them to the correct bedrooms. Stef told Jude to get ready for bed and then banished him to his room to read until bedtime.

Mariana was done vacuuming. Her head hurt from the constant noise, so she sat down with a cup of water and took something for headache.

"You better be planning to wash that cup yourself, Mari. I have already done the dishes tonight and I am not planning to do any more." Brandon grumped at his sister.

"I will wash the cup, but if I do, you better not walk on any of my freshly vacuumed carpet. Your dirty feet would probably ruin it." She snapped back, clearly also in a bad mood.

"How am I supposed to get to my room without touching the carpet? Are you stupid or something?" Brandon came up behind Mariana and almost knocked her off the stool.

"Figure it out yourself, Genius Boy! You are just mad because you couldn't get away with doing nothing this afternoon while the rest of us worked! Jude would have been fine on his own, you know."

"Fine! I will figure it out. Now, though, I have to mop this room so you have to leave!" Mariana took another leisurely sip of her water without moving. "Right now, Mari! Or you will have to mop!"

Stef walked in the room just in time to stop Brandon from hitting Mariana with the mop handle. "No, sir. I don't have to remind you that we don't hit. Mari, go get ready for bed. B, as soon as your mopping is done you should also get ready for bed. I am not dealing with anything else tonight."

Mariana rolled her eyes and sighed, but complied with only another look from her mother. She knew that the best cure for her headache would be sleeping anyway. As soon as she left, Brandon had no one left to fight with so he started mopping.

Stef then found Callie in the bathroom finishing up. "Once again, Bug, when you are using this many chemicals, keep the door open!" Stef said more forcefully this time due to being in a bad mood.

"Do you guys not even appreciate the work I have put into this today? All I hear is 'keep the door open' and 'go clean the other bathroom!' You people are driving me crazy!" Callie halfway yelled at a stunned Stef.

"I think the 'you people' you are referring to are your mothers. I have also reminded you about your attitude once today. I am extending your grounding an extra day."

Callie shrugged and rolled her eyes. "Yesterday you grounded me for four weeks. Is that your answer to everything? Lena really might be scarier…"

Stef was now fuming mad. "Callie, go get your IPod. It will be mine for a while. Then you will get ready for bed and you may read until Mama or I comes to say good night."

Callie knew to not argue any further, but did give a shove to Jesus on her way up the stairs to vent her anger. "Hey!" He yelled. He tried to grab her leg as he regained his balance, but he missed. When Callie started back down the stairs, though, he wouldn't let her pass.

"I have to give this to Stef, so you have to let me down the stairs, Jesus!"

"You almost made me fall. I could have gotten hurt!"

"You are just being a baby!" Callie yelled as she tried to dart passed her brother.

Fortunately, Stef recognized those yells and came quickly to diffuse the situation. "You, hand me your IPod from there and head back upstairs and you, get your job done and get ready for bed."

"But he…" "But she…"

"But nothing. Both of you just do what I have asked right now. No more fighting with each other and no more arguing with me!"

XXXXX

Finally Stef had all the kids in bed. She had sent them in one-by-one to say good night to Lena. Then she kissed each one and turned off their bedroom lights. Only then did she go back in to face Lena and the fight she knew they were about to have.

"I understand what you are feeling, Love." Stef said as she sat down on their bed. She knew from past fights that apologizing early, even if she was unsure exactly what happened could sometimes smooth things over. "I know that I handled things badly today and I am very sorry."

"What did you handle badly, Stef?" Lena asked seeing through Stef's generalities. "Give me specifics."

Stef tried to think back about when she first noticed Lena being angry with her and realized it had something to do with dinner. "I meant to tell you that dinner was really great today. I just love it when you cook asparagus that way."

"Thanks, but that isn't what I was looking for….Ugh! Stef, you CANNOT, I repeat CANNOT, use therapy against Callie! She is making good progress, but she already hates going. Imagine how much more she will hate it when she thinks it is punishment!" Lena said loudly and sharply.

Oh, that was it, Stef thought. She took a deep breath and said calmly. "Lena, if that is all that you are upset about, I understand that, too. I just wanted to know what was going on with my kids and I knew that I would work. Sometimes to get information we have to find what works."

"That is not ALL I am mad about, Stef! They are OUR children, Stef! Not criminals to be interrogated!" Lena explained getting progressively louder. "You had everyone except Jude all worked up and angry tonight. Did you not see that in their eyes? Jesus was very mad that you ungrounded Jude. I am also disappointed. I went along with it because it is important to our babies, but please don't do that to me again!"

"This cannot be blamed only on me! You didn't even know what was going on with them when you brought them home from school." Stef pointed out.

"Right, I am such a terrible parent to our kids because I allowed them to clean up the house without being asked. Were they unhappy? Were they being injured in any way? No, they were all fine!"

"Well you did yell at Brandon and Callie earlier and made them do extra chores. I heard it. Callie just gave me lip over it and I had to take her IPod."

"YOU TOOK CALLIE'S MUSIC! YOU DO REALIZE SHE NEEDS THAT IF SHE HAS A NIGHTMARE, RIGHT? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" This time Lena was all out yelling.

"I WAS THINKING THAT OUR DAUGHTER TOLD ME THAT WE WERE DRIVING HER CRAZY AND THEN TRIED TO SHOVE HER BROTHER DOWN THE STAIRS. WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?" Stef screamed back at

"I DON'T KNOW, DISCUSS IT WITH ME FIRST. YOU SAY WE ARE A TEAM, BUT THE KIDS ONLY LISTEN TO YOU BECAUSE YOU RUSH IN IMPUSIVELY TO MAKE A DECISION AND LEAVE ME IN THE DARK! I HAD TO YELL AT BRANDON AND CALLIE BECAUSE NEITHER WOULD OBEY ME."

Stef did not get a chance to respond as they had a knock on their door. "THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME. GO TO BED!" She yelled instead.

"This is exactly what I was talking about, Stef. We are a team. You just answered for both of us. If one of our babies needs us we cannot leave them out in the hallway just to fight more." Lena whispered harshly now aware the kids could hear them.

Callie had actually been by her mothers' door ever since she heard the fight break out. She had heard her name several times and knew they were fighting about her. When the loud yelling started she finally got the courage to knock hoping to protect her mothers from each other if things went badly. Stef opened the door for Callie and left the room.

"Callie, Baby, come here!" Lena said opening her arms to her oldest daughter. Callie was still frozen in place by the door and did not move. "Sweetheart, it is okay. Come on in here."

Callie took a few steps to be inside the door and after a moment quietly spoke up. "I am sorry for my bad attitude and not obeying the first time. Are you guys going to be okay?"

"Of course we are, Cals! Mom and I just have some things we need to work out. We are sorry that we were being so loud. Come sit down with me." Lena again patted the spot next to her on the bed. Callie went over and sat next to her Mama. Lena put her arms around her and let her cry. "It is okay, Baby. We were fighting, but we still love each other and all of you very much. Nothing could change that."


	12. Chapter 12

Stef stomped down the stairs to the kitchen not noticing the little feet that landed softly just a little distance behind her. She went over to the front door to check the lock one more time as she often did when she was stressed. Jude silently watched for a moment before speaking and surprising his mom. "So, are you leaving us now?"

Stef caught her breath before answering. "Not tonight, Bud. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you and Mama were yelling a lot. When it stopped, I saw you leave the room. Now, you are at the front door. I would understand if you left us. But, can I go with you?"

This was Stef's undoing. Tears started streaming down her face as she reached for her son. Jude came closer and she held him for few minutes. "Oh, Baby! I was just coming downstairs to get something to drink and have get some space to think." Stef guided Jude into the kitchen with her. "How about you and I sit down and think together just a little bit."

Jude hopped up in a stool. Stef heated up some water on the stove, got out two mugs, and the hot chocolate mix. When the water was warm enough, she poured some in each cup and stirred. "Close your eyes really quick, Bud." When she was sure his eyes were closed, she reached into a cabinet and dug out a bag of marshmallows from the back. "Okay, you can open your eyes again."

"Marshmallows? When did we get these?" Jude asked excitedly.

"Yep. My mom always put marshmallows in my hot chocolate when I needed to think. Just don't tell your mama that we have them. She doesn't like you guys eating so much sugar especially this late at night." Stef said with a wink.

Jude shoved his cocoa away. "I don't want to make you guys fight anymore. If Mama doesn't want me to have this, I would rather not if it is all the same to you."

"So, Jude, Mama and I did have a fight tonight. That does not mean that we do not love each other or that we do not love you. Do you see what I am getting at, Bud?" Stef asked scooting Jude's hot chocolate back toward him.

"Mama said you guys weren't a team anymore." Jude stopped and shoved his mug away again. "You guys were the best team ever. Of all the places that I have lived, this was my favorite. Now you guys aren't a team either."

"Sometimes families get tired, stressed, and cranky. We have had a hard week with the lamps, Callie's grounding, and then finding out that our parents were all coming. When that happens sometimes we say things and it leads to some fighting." Stef moved his cup toward him and took a drink of her own. "Would you say that you and your siblings are a team?" Jude nodded and looked at his cocoa. "Did you know that before Mama and I fought, Mari and B had a small fight and so did Callie and Jesus? What do you think about that?"

Jude stared at Stef with wide eyes for a moment. "I guess we should take Jesus and B with us. Callie and Mari need Mama."

Stef sighed. "But don't Brandon, Jesus, and you need Mama also?"

"Yes, but we would have you. Then you wouldn't have to feel lonely. We could be our own team."

"But we would never be a complete team. I could never live without Callie, Mari, or Mama. I don't think you could either. Anyway, as I said before, I am not going anywhere. Your mama is stuck with me even when we fight. You used to say that you and Callie were a packaged deal. Well, now we have a new packaged deal. We have Brandon, Callie, Jesus, Mariana, you, and Mama and I, and we will always be a family." Stef smiled at her son and got a small smile back. "Drink your hot chocolate, Baby. I know that Mama really wouldn't mind."

Jude responded by picking up his mug and taking a sip.

XXXXXX

Callie was still crying on Lena's lap. This was the longest she had ever allowed herself to be held and the most emotion Lena had ever seen from her daughter. "Callie, Baby, it is okay. Mom and I love you very much. Tell me what is going on in your beautiful head."

"I made you guys fight. Now we won't be a family and it is my fault. I didn't listen to you, I talked back, and I tried to shove Jesus down the stairs. I even told Stef that you were scarier than her. I know that wasn't right. I was just trying to make her mad."

"So, you didn't listen to me the same way as my other kids don't always listen, you gave your mom attitude like her other kids do, and your fought with your brother? Callie girl, I do believe you have become a Foster. Now, there are a few more steps that you have to pass before it is official."

"Like adoption?" Callie said laughing a little as her tears were stopping.

"Still being a little sassy I see." Lena said smiling down at Callie. "Of course we are adopting you and you will then be an Adams Foster, but I am talking about the steps to being a member of this family. The next step you have to pass is right now. When you fought with Jesus tonight or when you have fought with Mari in the past few months, did it make you love them any less?"

"For the moment, yes."

"What about for the long-term? Are you still mad at Jesus? Do you still love Mariana?"

"I am not sure if I was ever really mad at him. I was mostly mad at Stef. He just happened to be in my way. So, I guess not. Jesus bothers me sometimes, but I cannot stay mad at him ever. As far as Mari goes, she is my sister and I could never stop loving her."

"By the way, did you apologize to Jesus? Or hug to make it up or anything?"

"Stef sent me upstairs right after it happened and then told him to finish his job." Callie noticed Lena roll her eyes and cloud up a little again. "It was okay, though, because Jesus knows that I love him. I am sure that Stef knew that we would do all the things you mentioned in the morning when we were fresher and not so tired…."

"I am sure you are right, Bug…." Lena made a mental note to get Jesus and Callie together in the morning. "Well, that is sort of like Mom and I. We fight, we yell, we get upset with each other, but we still love each other just as much as we did before. Then, we will talk, apologize, and hug and everything will be okay again."

"When you guys were yelling earlier I got kind of worried. I mean, I know that you don't hit us, and Stef only gives us 'love pats' or whatever she wants to call them, but when you guys fight do either of you ever…"

"We never hit, Callie. Furthermore, we never throw things or anything else physically in our anger. If that was what you were concerned about, it has never happened and it never will. We are not violent towards each other or with any of you. In that way, we also expect that you all will not be violent toward each other."

"Which means that you are probably disappointed that I would act out that way." Lena hummed a little at that statement, but still held Callie close. "I am sorry, Mama. I know why Mom grounded me for another day and took my IPod. I should probably also take at least one of Jesus's dish nights to make it up to him."

"That's a good plan. First, you will apologize and hug. Then, you will volunteer for a week of his chores. I know how sorry you are, Bug, but it is really Jesus that you need to make things right with. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yes, I think I do." Callie said creasing her eyebrows. "Mom just sent us upstairs; you really might be the scarier mother in this house. I never would have guessed it."

"You have now completed two more steps in becoming a real Foster. You have realized the love isn't lost just because we fight sometimes and you know that I am the one to be feared. Your mom does the whole bad cop thing, but deep down she is a softy. I may seem calmer and quieter, but I have my moments. The others have learned not to cross me."

Stef knocked on the door frame before she and Jude appeared in the room. "We have had a little time to cool off and a little hot cocoa and we are now back to make it right. Aren't we, Bud?"

"Yes, Mom, but Mama we did have marshmallows in our hot cocoa." Stef elbowed the boy slightly. "Mom didn't give me very many and she said it would be okay."

"Of course it is okay, Baby, come over here." Jude went and sat on the other side of Lena snuggling in like Callie. "You know that I love you, right?"

"Yes, and I know that we are all a packaged deal. Mom said that you are stuck with all of us no matter what. So, now what do you do?"

"Well, Sweets, first we apologize." Lena looked to Stef and they silently agreed that the kids needed to see their apologies. "Stef, I am sorry that I yelled at you tonight. I was tired and had a bad interaction with the kids that I took out on you. You are a fantastic mom with great instincts to take care of our family. I love you, Babe!"

"I love you, too! And I am sorry that I did not explain my intentions to you before dinner and that I created conflict among our babies. Next time I will communicate my plans with you and get your input before I act." Stef walked over to Lena who stood up. Stef grabbed Lena and hugged her tight and then kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Jude and Callie watched with interest from their mothers' bed. Then Stef turned to Callie, "Bug, I am sorry that I lied to you about group therapy. Mama and I are so proud of the progress you have made. She was right when she said that we are considering letting you go down to just one session a week. By the way, therapy is never a punishment, just a way to keep people healthy."

Callie looked surprised that an adult would apologize to her as none ever had before. Stef looked to her to speak, but Callie was silent. Jude looked to her and elbowed her as Stef had him earlier. "Mom, I am sorry that I was rude to you earlier. You don't really drive me crazy. I understand why you took my IPod."

Callie stood up and Stef gathered her into her arms and kissed her forehead several times. "I love you so much, Callie Girl."

"I love you, too, Mom." Callie said quietly.

"Now, I do believe it is time for both of you to get into bed. It is a school night after all. Cals, we still have your music, but if you have a nightmare, just knock we will be here." Lena gave each of her kids a small hug and kiss.

Stef let go of Callie and gave Jude a hug and a kiss as well. "Thanks for your help tonight, Buddy." Stef then got both kids by the hands and lead them out of her room. She then shut the door and went back over to her wife.

The kids smiled at each other and went back to their rooms. They could hear their mothers talking quietly and were pretty sure they also heard some kissing. Both kids knew things were going to be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

Lena was able to find time in the morning before school to get Callie and Jesus together. She stayed around to supervise the interaction. "Jesus, I am sorry that I shoved you on the stairs and that I called you a baby. You are my brother and I love you."

"Cals, it really isn't that big of a deal." Jesus answered.

"Except it is, Jesus, because Callie is trying to apologize to you. We know that is a big deal in this household, right?"

"Of course, Mama." Jesus turned back to Callie. "I am sorry that I did not let you down the stairs. I knew that you were upset and I could have helped you. Instead I got in the way."

Callie awkwardly reached out to hug Jesus. Even though she had been in the household for a while and did consider Jesus a brother, she was not sure they had ever hugged. Jesus hugged her back and Lena smiled at her two kids. When the hug ended, Lena cleared her throat some and looked and Callie.

"I would like to make it up to you by doing your chores for you this week. I mean, this whole thing was really my fault and you could have gotten hurt falling down the stairs."

"How about we work together on all our chores this week? That sounds more fair to me. Cals, just so you know, I love you. Not like in a creepy sort of way, but like because you are my sister."

Callie giggled. "I love you, too, Bro."

Lena also rounded up Mariana and Brandon. Jude stood at a distance to watch both apologies. He found it all extremely interesting. His mama took all of this very seriously. It was obviously important to her that the children work out their conflicts. He knew that Mari and Jesus fought often and rarely had to make these types of apologies to each other. Come to think of it, Jude had witnessed many fights among his siblings and the only time he had seen apologies like this before today was in his first fight with Jesus over their room. After the apologies, all four of the older kids were getting along well again like there were no hard feelings.

Lena saw the confused look on her youngest son's face. "Is something wrong, Bud?"

"No… at least I am not really sure. Last night after your fight, you and Mom apologized, right?"

"Right, Buddy. We both knew that we were wrong, we apologized and talking things over. We are fine this morning."

Jude could see that his moms were more than fine this morning. Both Stef and Lena had their hands all over each other. When they could not touch, there were loving glances going back and forth. He felt safe again that the family was not breaking up and that his moms both loved him also.

"You and Mom actually seem closer than ever." Lena shot another look over to Stef who came over and put her arms around Lena. "That's not really what is bothering me, I like it when you are happy. Today, I saw Callie and Jesus apologize and then Brandon and Mariana. I know they were fighting and I see that it all seems to be working out okay."

"Yep. It is what I was telling you last night, Little Man, we are all one team and one packaged deal. We fight sometimes, but in the end we couldn't live without the others in our family." Stef answered as Lena laid her head on her wife's shoulder.

"Then why don't we always apologize and hug after fights? Jesus and Mari fight all the time, but I have never seen either one of them say they are sorry or make it up any other way."

Stef started to answer and then stopped for Lena. "Well, when the others were little, we did have them make up every time there was a squabble." Lena glanced back and Stef. "As they grew up, we saw that they had developed healthy ways of dealing with conflict. Sometimes we still get involved, but we don't always have to."

"Besides," Stef interjected with a grin. "If we always made the twins apologize they would spend every minute of every day trying to make up."

XXXXXX

Even though it was Friday and they had family coming in for the weekend, Lena had to stay at school an extra hour to finish up the week and lock up. Lena sent the older four kids home to change the sheets on the beds, look out clothing, and do all the last minute things that needed to be done around the house. Jude was dragging from lack of sleep the night before. He would not nap, but at least this way Lena could make sure he would rest some.

"Poor Jude having to stay in Mama's office this afternoon. At least yesterday we were together and we got sit outside. This definitely makes up for him having Conner over yesterday." Jesus said as they walked home. "For real, we got our phones back for our walk home, we can finish up the house in like ten minutes, and then we can basically be ungrounded until moms come home."

"Meanwhile, Jude is going to be bored out of his mind in Lena's office." Brandon grinned picking up the pace. "We have all been there, right? It was fun when I was like six, but after that I started practicing piano after school because other than homework there is nothing to do."

"Lena is fun to spend time with, though. I guess I haven't spent so much time in her office alone after school, but I can't see how it would be that bad. Jude loves her. How bad could it really be?" Callie questioned.

"Mama gets sort of intense and focused when she works. She never intends to ignore the one trapped in her office. It just sort of happens. Jude will be okay, just bored." Mariana reassured her sister as they entered the house.

As Jesus predicted, the kids made record time doing the handful of things that needed to be done. The only one not finished within fifteen minutes was Mariana who was having a hard time picking out clothing. She finally settled on moving about six different outfit choices to her moms' room so that she could decide every day.

Jesus immediately got out his skateboard and went out for a ride knowing that he need to be back in half an hour. Mariana and Callie grabbed their laptops out of the moms' rooms and spent their time looking at clothes, chatting with friends, and perusing Facebook. Brandon turned on the TV. Everyone was happy and used their short time wisely.

XXXXX

Lena and Jude had also had a nice afternoon. While she worked, he read a Percy Jackson book that Jesus had loaned to him. Every now and then he would stop and read a funny part out loud. Lena knew that Jude had really only developed a love of reading since entering her house and she was proud of him. Lena also knew that days like this were going to be few. None of the others wanted to hang out with her in her office after school. If Jude was like them, she was lucky to even have this day.

Fortunately for the bigger kids, they all watched their time and were ready when Lena and Jude pulled up. Lena was well aware that sending grounded kids home alone meant that they would do whatever they wanted. When the grandparents came things could become tense. A little free time now might help the weekend start off well.

XXXXX

Stef knew that Stuart and Dana were getting in first. She parked her car in the short-term parking at the airport and went inside to wait by the arrivals lobby just past security. Her timing was good as they came through just moments later. Stuart and Dana both hugged their daughter-in-law.

Stuart was looking all around before he finally asked, "Where are the kids?"

"Lena and I thought it would be better if I just came this time. I came straight from work and I did not have time to get the van or the children. As soon as my mom gets here we can go see them." Stef explained.

"You left my baby at home with all of those kids? I hope that you are not expecting her to make dinner and watch all of them. I am not sure if we will have enough space in your car. Let me just call Lena Elizabeth…"

Stef took a deep breath before interrupting. "We are going to be fine. The car has plenty of room for the four of us and a nice trunk space for your luggage. Lena watches our kids alone every day after school. She watches hundreds of kids all day long. I am sure the kids are helping with dinner. They are all teenagers after all…" At this point Stef certainly wished she had brought at least one child. At the same time, she was a bit envious of Lena for being at home with them while she was at the airport.

"You don't have to get an attitude with me Stef. Lena is your wife…"

"If Lena hasn't started dinner yet, I would absolutely love to take everyone out to eat tonight. We can just stop by the house, take out the luggage and get the others."

"Thanks, Stuart, I will call Lena and see how dinner is going."

While Stuart and Dana were finding their bags Stef called Lena. Dinner preparations were easily halted and Lena sent the kids to get ready to go out for dinner. Stef helped Dana with her luggage and settled them in some chairs while she went to find her mother.

Sharon came through the door and hugged and kissed her daughter. "Stefanie, where are my grandbabies? I thought I would see them here."

Now Stef wished she had just sent the kids to the airport and made a mental note that she would send them next time. "Well, Mom, bad news, we sold the kids to the gypsies. You are only coming to see Lena and I this weekend."

"You know those jokes really aren't that funny, right, Honey?"

"I know, Mom. I came straight from work. There wasn't time to go pick up any of the kids. They are all waiting for us with Lena at home."

Stef walked Sharon to the baggage claim and grabbed her luggage. They met up with the others and made their way to the car. Stef was loaded down with all of Sharon's luggage and most of Dana's so the trip to the car was slow. "Stefanie, you should have brought Jesus with you to carry the luggage. At your age you shouldn't be carrying all of that by yourself."

"I am not old, Mom. I tell my kids that every day and now I am telling you. I lift weights for work. This is nothing. Next time I will send, I mean, bring the kids. I can't do anything about that right now." Stef could tell this was going to be a very long weekend.

Upon getting everyone settled in the car, Stef spoke again. "Okay, so tonight, Stuart is taking us out to eat. Tomorrow morning I am taking the kids to Ikea to buy some lamps for the family room. One of them will make breakfast, probably Callie, and Lena is going to have a chance to sleep in."

"I will make breakfast in the morning, Stefanie. I will go with you guys to Ikea and let Lena spend some time with her parents when she gets up."

"Thanks, Mom. We will be leaving the house around seven I the morning if you still want to go. Our purpose is to replace three lamps without too much expense other than time. We want to waste lots of time to make sure the kids feel very bad about breaking things."

"Is this one of those weekly trips Lena used to tell me about to replace everything that Jesus broke in a week?" Dana asked.

"Nope. He has been doing better with that recently. In fact, he was only directly involved in breaking one of the lamps. The kids sort of worked together on this and they will be paying for the replacements. We are not allowing them to get jobs and we cannot afford to give them much allowance. Therefore we will be looking for nice lamps that are fairly inexpensive."

"Stefanie, I don't mean to question your parenting techniques, but I am not sure that wasting the kids' time is the best way to handle this. Do you remember when you broke the kitchen window when you were a kid?"

Stef snorted, "Which time?"

"I think it was the first time. It was the time that you threw the baseball at the house and hit the window instead. That time, your dad and I made you pay for the window and then we spanked you. I think that…"

"Okay, Mom, a few problems with that advise already. Number one, we do not spank our children ever. Number two, even if we did believe in spanking, they are all too big for it. Number three, it obviously wasn't effective if we were having to discuss which time that window got broken."

"I only want what is best for my grandbabies."

"That's all Lena and I want for them, too, Mom. Anyway, I thought after Ikea tomorrow that I would take the kids and my mom, I guess, to eat somewhere. Then, I am going to take the kids home and do something alone with my mom. Sunday, the kids have secret planned that I am not sure about, but I think we are going to the beach. Monday, I will take you all back to the airport. Did you guys have any other plans?"

"I think we should just play it ear, but I would like to also take just the kids to get ice cream at least once while we are here." Stuart answered.

"That can be arranged. In fact, we would both love it anytime you want to take all of the kids anywhere. Obviously, we both want to spend some time with just you, but the kids set this up with you all. They need more grandparent time."

"And we need grandbaby time." Dana stated and the others agreed.

Stef pulled up to the house and texted for Lena to send the kids out to greet their grandparents and carry in the luggage. She would never admit it to her mother, but it was a little too much for her to carry alone.


	14. Chapter 14

All Jude, Brandon, Mariana, and Lena went out the car to greet the grandparents and get the luggage. Jesus was still in the shower since he had come back from his skateboard ride hot and sweaty. Callie sort of hung back some. In the chaotic greetings, no one noticed that she was missing at first. Stef noticed after a few minutes, but figured that Callie was showering or getting ready still. When everyone made it inside, she found the girl at a distance watching everyone else.

"Hey, Bug. As I am sure you already saw, your grandparents are here. It would be really great if you went over and greeted them. They are part of the family and also love you."

"I know… and it was sort of my idea to call them. I am just not sure now that they are here. You say that they love me, but I have no idea how that would be possible. I mean, they have only been here a handful of times since I moved in and yet they have mostly only seen me at my worst. For real, they were all here when I ran away. All of that on top of the fact that until I got here grandparents a foreign concept." Callie looked back over to the rest of her family. Jude was snuggled between Lena and Dana on the couch with Brandon on the armrest. Mariana was having an animated conversation with Sharon. Jesus, who had just come downstairs ready for dinner, was hugging Stuart.

"You're right, they were here when you ran away. Do you know, though, that when you ran it was my mom who said she would watch the others while Mama and I went to find you? Our parents all rejoiced when we called to say you were safe. At the quince, Dana had some doubts about us taking in more kids. However, at the wedding she admitted that she knew you are Jude were meant for us. Now, they consider you one of theirs like the others. Just give them a chance, Baby."

"Well, I will try…. I don't know how to say this, but I am a little uncomfortable with what to do. Do I go over and hug them or give them handshakes? What do I call them? You and Mama have been really good to let me get there when I do, but it seems weird to address your parents by their first names…."

"I wouldn't worry much about that, Cals. The other kids call Stuart- Gramps, Dana- Grams, and my mom- Grandma. If you are unsure, don't call them anything. As far as the physical contact goes, you will note that Mama and I both inherited are touchiness from our parents. If you don't want to be hugged, though, I am sure if you put your hand out they would probably shake it."

"I know all of that, and I know that after I have been with them awhile again it won't feel so awkward, but the initial greeting is always hard."

Stef stood up and grabbed Callie's hand dragging her to a standing position. "Come on, Bug, we will go over there together."

"Do I have to? I might be okay just watching from over here…"

"You invited them, and now you are also going to greet them. If I had to go to the airport, the least you can do now is say hello."

Callie approached the grandparents almost hiding behind Stef. Sharon saw what was happening and approached the nervous girl first. "Hello, Callie!" She said grabbing her into a bear hug similar to Stef's hugs. "It is so good to see you! I was telling the other kids that I was really hoping you all would be at the airport."

"Thanks, uh…."

"Grandma. The rest of the lot all call me Grandma."

"Thanks, Grandma."

Dana was next. She stood up and also hugged Callie. "Baby, I just love seeing my oldest granddaughter. Thanks for inviting us." Dana, sensing part of Callie's awkwardness added, "Remember that you can call me Gram."

"I am glad you came… Gram." Callie answered hesitantly.

Stuart noticed that when Callie approached him that she held her hand out to shake. He was disappointed, but he knew a little of her history. Stuart took her hand and then grabbed her into sort of a half hug. Callie found herself leaning into Stuart's embrace. "Hey, Gramps. Welcome to our house."

Stuart released her. "Okay, well if are all ready now, does anyone have a suggestion of where we want to go for dinner tonight?"

"Chinese." "Pizza." "Italian." "Sushi." The kids, other than Callie, all answered at once.

"Sushi?" Jesus questioned Mariana. "That is like raw fish wrapped in seaweed. No way am I going to eat that." He and Jude looked at each other and made similar gagging faces.

"Well, some of us want a bit of culture when we eat. We have never tried sushi and I think Callie and I are both interested in trying new things. Right, Callie?"

"Don't drag me into this, Mari." Callie said lightening up and rapidly becoming more comfortable. "Chinese is my favorite."

"You are supposed to back me up. What is the point of having a sister if you don't back me up? Besides, you told me last week that you would try sushi. Here is our chance."

"I told you last week that I was not completely opposed to the idea. I like new experiences, I really do." Callie sighed. "If that's what you really want…"

"If the girls are both voting for sushi, the boys are now all voting for Italian food. So now the vote is Le

Mari looked at Callie. "That is so unfair. We really do need at least one more sister." Callie nodded back although somewhat relieved that maybe they would not have to try something new.

Stef could see that this banter was good natured, but also knew how quickly that could change. "And now the five adults are going to consult and there are five of us to vote. Stuart really just asked for suggestions anyway."

All of the kids moaned just a little. The adults quickly grouped up where they were and talked in low voices for a moment. Not to be out done, Jesus motioned the girls to join the boys in the corner. "There are five of them and five of us. If we can agree on a place the vote will be a tie and we could still win."

"If we talk long enough, the kids will finally come to an agreement together and we will not have to disappoint any of them." Lena whispered to the other adults. They all glanced over at the kids and noticed what she was talking about.

After a few more minutes, the kids had reached an agreement. "We are now all voting on Mongolian stir fry." Jude announced. "That way everyone can get exactly what they want."

The adults nodded, but before they could agree Stef spoke up. "We all voted for Indian food." She said as her and Lena had always enjoyed Indian food, but none of their kids had taken to it. All the other adults looked at Stef with surprise as their only agreement had been to go with what the kids decided. "I guess we are still tied five to five." She challenged.

Sharon looked at her daughter and then at her grandbabies. She stood up and walked over to the kids. "I am changing my vote stir fry sounds better to me after all."

Dana, Stuart, and Lena caught on and also joined the kids leaving only Stef on her side. "Well, I guess that decides it. Stir fry it is."

Stef decided that she would take her car with her mother, Callie, and Mari. Lena would take the van with the others. They were able to make some arrangements to get a few tables put together so that all ten of them could sit together. Soon the kids were laughing and teasing Stef about not getting a pet. This was all Sharon needed to tell a good Stef story. "Your mom says no pets. That's very interesting considering…."

_Eight year old Stef had been looking forward to her camping trip with her father for weeks. Just the two of them were going to drive an hour or so out of the city and spend two days and a night together in the woods. Her father had told her many times about how his father used to take his brother and him camping every summer. Now it was finally her turn. Frank had always considered that camping was more of an activity for father and son, but as Stef was so much of a daddy's girl he knew she would enjoy it._

_The whole journey in the car, Stef talked nonstop about fishing, hiking, and campfires. It was clear that not only had she heard all of Frank's stories, but she had been living through them for years. Frank smiled at the child's chatter, seriously amazed how his little girl could look so much like her mother, but be so much like him at the same time._

_At the campsite, Frank let Stef help set up the tent and then he sent her to find some firewood for their campfire. After an hour he became concerned about his daughter's whereabouts. Frank followed the path he sent Stef on, only to find her squatted on the ground a few yards from where she had started. "How is the firewood hunt going, Sport?"_

_ "__Not so good. But, Daddy, look!" _

_Frank joined Stef and glanced at what she was pointing at. "It looks like a baby raccoon. We should probably leave it here and gather up some firewood. It is summer, but still can get chilly at night. We wouldn't want your mother finding out that I let you get cold tonight on our first camping trip, would we?"_

_ "__Nope. But, Daddy, the baby raccoon might get cold tonight, too. He needs a mommy. Maybe I could be his mommy? I would take good care of him. Please, Daddy?"_

_Frank could never resist Stef when she really wanted something. "How about if we give him a blanket and a little fish tonight. If he is still here in the morning and his real mommy hasn't come back for him, we can talk again."_

_Stef was hesitant to leave the baby raccoon. Her father walked back down the path and brought a little towel back to the little girl. She wrapped the baby in it and left him on a soft pile of leaves before taking her daddy's hand. _

_Later that night after a long afternoon of fishing, Frank showed Stef how to clean their fish. He sent her back to the raccoon with some fish scraps thinking that if the baby would not eat them, maybe it would attract his mother to come back. Stef happily skipped down the path to her new baby and found him exactly where she had left him. Frank did not notice the slight bulge to Stef's shirt when she returned._

_After a fish dinner, smores, and ghost stories Frank was more than happy to tuck Stef in for the night. A slightly more observant parent may have noticed a little towel tucked into Stef's sleeping bag that night. However, Frank did not. Nor did he notice the next day when Stef continuously went back into the tent to "look for something." He did ask once about the baby raccoon, but when Stef told him he wasn't on the path any longer, her father did not stop to investigate despite being a police officer. _

_When the two campers came home, however, Sharon noticed right off that Stef was acting strangely. "Did you have a nice time, Stefanie?" She asked. Stef nodded her head, but kept edging toward her room. "What was your favorite part?"_

_ "__Um, I don't really know right now, Mom. Um, I have to go check something in my room." Stef began to scurry to her room before her mother caught up with her._

_ "__What is in your hands, young lady?" Sharon asked sternly._

_ "__Well, Mommy, this is my new baby, Mr. Skittles. I found him in the woods and adopted him. Daddy said that if his real mommy did not come back I could keep him. So, here he is. I know you will love him as much as I do soon!"_

_ "__Frank!" Stef heard her mom yell. "I think we need to talk about a certain raccoon…"_

"Strangely, we wound up keeping Mr. Skittles for a few months. When he grew up we released him. Then Stef brought home a squirrel, followed by a bird, followed by a snake, and you can probably see the pattern. Frank would help her take care of whatever critter she brought home. Now it is odd to me that Stef doesn't want any pets brought into the house."

"You named your raccoon Mr. Skittles?" Jesus asked eying Stef.

"I was eight. When you were eight you were still wearing sneakers with Velcro, Bud."

"I just had a hard time with shoe laces…" Jesus protested before catching another gleam in his eye. "Hey, B, you should feel pretty lucky that your dad was around to help name you when you were born. Otherwise you might have become Mr. Skittles the second or something."

Stef finally got Jesus settled when Jude spoke up more thoughtfully. "So, Mom, you were already into adoption when you were younger than me? I guess that you always knew you would be a great mom and take in lots of babies that would need you."

"Well, Jude, I guess you are right. I had never really thought about it like that before, but yeah. I did always want to be a mommy." Stef looked over at the boy and poked him. "Your mommy specifically."

"So, if you had all of those random pets as a kid, I still don't understand why we can't even have a dog. We would take care of it and it would be a much better pet than a squirrel…"

"Oh, B, you missed part of my mother's story. Before I got a new animal, I had to release the old one into the wild. I already have five pets right now and Mama and I are planning on number six…" Stef stopped and looked pointedly at each of her children. "We are at capacity. If I was to get a new pet right now, I would have to release one of you into the wild."


	15. Chapter 15

"I was thinking that since we still have plenty of time before bedtime, I could treat the whole family to a movie at a theater. Have you all seen Maleficent yet?" Sharon asked as the kids were finishing up.

"Well, Mom, the kids are all technically grounded right now, so I am not sure if that is really the best thing for us to do tonight…"

"Nonsense, Stefanie. So they broke some lamps or something, nothing you didn't do. I only see my grandbabies a few times a year and I want to take them to a movie. As their grandmother, I can unground them anytime that I choose. If you say any different, I will ground you."

The kids started giggling and Stef looked annoyed. Lena took her hand. "Thanks, Sharon. I don't think any of the kids have seen Maleficent yet and I am sure we would all enjoy it. What do you guys think?"

"How about if we see X-Men instead?" Jesus asked. Stef promptly lightly kicked him under the table. "Ow… I haven't seen Maleficent, but I also haven't seen X-Men, I was just wondering if that one would be just as good."

"I do not want to see X-Men, Jesus!" Mariana replied. "Maleficent is a much better choice, Grandma. We would love to go."

Not wanting to put it up to another vote, the whole family loaded up and went to the movie. Sharon insisted on buying the kids drinks, making Lena cringe about the sugar. Dana asked if any of the kids wanted candy which of course Jude and Jesus did.

"Mom, you never bought candy for me growing up… Seriously, my kids don't need sugar either." Lena said as she pulled Dana aside.

"Lena Elizabeth, relax. I would buy candy for you or Stef also. Would you like some? Is that was this is about?"

"No, Mom, I don't want refined sugar with artificial flavors and colors. My mother always told me that it was not a healthy snack. Stef and I try not to give the kids much candy for the same reasons. I would appreciate you keeping that in mind."

Jude heard the argument and handed his candy back to Dana. "I don't really want this after all, Gram. Maybe you could have it instead?"

"No, Jude, I want you to have this candy. Your mama is just getting bent out of shape about something small. It is no concern of yours, just enjoy your candy."

"Mom! Don't undermine my authority with my children!"

"You were always a little too sensitive, dear. I told you so many times as you were going up that if you kept taking so much offense the world would chew you up and spit you out…."

Jude looked at his grandmother, then at his mother, and then at the candy in his hands. He looked rather bewildered. Finally, he took the candy and handed it to Stef. "Gram bought this for me, but Mama doesn't want me to have it. I tried to give it back, but Gram gave it back to me. It is making them fight worse than the marshmallows last night."

Stef took the candy from Jude and held it up across the lobby to Lena. Lena gave a slight nod and a shrug. "Okay, Little Man, Mama and I think it is okay for you to eat the candy tonight. Just like the movie, we only see your grandparents a few times a year. A little sugar won't kill you."

Jude smiled and gave Stef a quick hug before running to catch up with the other kids in the theater. Stef went over and casually grabbed Lena as Stuart grabbed Dana. The mothers waited until Lena's parents joined the kids and Sharon in the theater before Stef spoke to calm Lena. "Babe, whatever you mother said doesn't really matter. She does love you even if it doesn't show."

"She said I was too sensitive. She told Jude that I was 'bent out of shape.' I know that it will be okay, but I wish that she didn't drive me so crazy."

"Your sensitivity is what makes you such a great mama to our kids. Your mom just doesn't want you getting hurt over small things. She doesn't see the strength you have through your sensitivity."

"Thanks, Stef." Lena said leaning into her wife for comfort.

"By the way, Lena, your oldest daughter said yesterday that we were driving her crazy. Are we really like them?"

"We were last night when we both lost it on the kids. I think overall, though, we try not to be. Our mothers do love us and they do love the kids. We can do this for a weekend." Lena let go of Stef and then grabbed her hand and they walked into the movie.

XXXXXXXX

The kids, even Jesus, loved the movie. Stef knew it was going to be difficult to get everyone settled in tonight, but also knew it would be necessary. By the time they were leaving the movie theater it was already ten. If she was really going to follow through with getting the kids up by six, they would need sleep. Stef decided to start with the two girls in her car. "Girls, when we get home, I need you both to start getting ready for bed. We want an early start tomorrow, so showering tonight might be a good plan. Grandma has volunteered to make breakfast so you are both off the hook for that in the morning."

"If we are sleeping in the family room then we can't really go to bed until everyone else…" Mariana pointed out hoping that would mean she could stay up a bit later.

"Good point, we will move our conversations elsewhere. That way the two of you can go ahead and sleep."

Callie sighed and leaned her head against the car door mumbling something under her breath. She was sort of hoping the early morning trip had been forgotten by now and like Mariana was hoping to stay up later even if she was grounded still. Callie knew that she was the only reason anyone was grounded and that she played an active role in lamps breaking. However, it did not make it easier now.

"What was that, Bug?" Stef asked with some authority in her tone.

"Nothing, Stef. I was just wondering if I could have my IPod back tonight. You know since Mama didn't want you taking that from me and all..."

"I was considering, but now I think no. I took it because of your attitude and you just showed me that it still needs adjustment. Mama and I are together on this one, I promise." Callie sighed again and Stef suspected that she rolled her eyes.

The car was silent for a few minutes before Sharon decided to talk. "Stefanie, you know I don't like to give you advice about your parenting techniques…."

"Then don't, Mom."

"I just think you need to hear it. Now, when you were a teenage girl you also had attitude issues. Do you remember what I used to do about it?"

"You did many different things. I remember being grounded, have my things taken away, and doing extra chores. Same thing as I do to my kids."

"Hmmmm… And were my methods all effective? Or did they just make your attitude worse?"

"Some of each. Where are you going with this?"

Sharon patted Stef's arm. "Just think about it, honey."

XXXXXX

Lena and Stef were able to get all of the kids to bed without much more incident. Stef considered her mother's words, but did not give back Callie's IPod. Brandon put an air mattress on the floor of his brothers' room. The mothers and the grandparents got drinks and gathered on the back porch away from the should-be-sleeping-teenagers.

"Thanks for dinner tonight, Daddy and for the movie, Sharon. I know the kids appreciated it also." Lena paused and took a deep breath. "And, Mom, Jesus and Jude also enjoyed the candy. I am sorry that I got so tense about it. I know that a little candy isn't going to hurt any of the kids."

"You are welcome, Sweetheart." Stuart responded first. "I just like being able to spend time with my family."

"I feel like I never see those grandbabies of mine. I wish I lived closer, but I know that my daughter would just hate it if I moved here…"

Stef interrupted Sharon. "That is not true and you know it. I love you, Mom, and I love it when you spend time with my kids. They also love you. I am sorry that I was short with you in the car earlier. I would appreciate it, though, if you would wait to give me parenting advice to when my kids are not with me."

"I was not trying to get in the way of what you were doing, Stefanie. I was just trying to get you to calm down so that you wouldn't say anything to my granddaughter that you didn't mean. I know that I made some mistakes with you, and I don't want you to make the same ones with your daughter."

"I know, Mom, and for the record you didn't so badly. I grew up all right and so will my kids."

The rest of the night the topics were kept lighter. The adults wound up having a nice night together despite the rough start. Sharon and Stef turned in first since they were going with the kids in the morning. Stuart left next. Dana and Lena talked quietly until they heard a scream in the family room.

"That sounds like my Callie girl having a nightmare!" Lena said as she jumped up in panic.

Dana and Lena both practically ran back into the house to see Callie thrashing around on the couch. "Is this because of the movie? It was a little dark but not really scary. Does she do this often?"

"I doubt the movie has anything to do with it. Her nightmares have become less and less over the last few months, but she still has them sometimes. The last bad one was over two weeks ago." Lena replied as she leaned down to give Callie a kiss. "Callie, it is Mama. Wake up, Baby." Callie continued thrashing and Lena shook her just a bit. "Callie, Mama's here, Baby. Open your eyes for me, Sweets."

This time Callie opened her eyes a little and on seeing Dana she clung to Lena for a minute before calming down. "Do you want to talk about it, Bug?" Lena asked gently holding her daughter.

"Well, I think it is time for me to go to bed…. Good night, Lena. Good night, Callie." Dana said as she made her exit up the stairs.

"It was really about the same dream as last time. I was being chased and I couldn't get away. I looked for you guys and I couldn't find you. I felt so alone."

"You aren't alone, though, Cals. We are with you. We love you, and you are part of our family. No matter how many times you roll your eyes, get detention, or fight with your brother we are still here. Nothing you could do would change that." Callie's breathing evened out and she relaxed in her mama's arms. "Do you want your IPod back so that you can sleep, Baby?"

"No, Mama. Mom was right for taking it. I just really want you. Could you just not leave me alone tonight, Mama?" Callie asked looking at Lena with big eyes.

"Well, I think that there is not really good space for both of us on this couch. How about if you come upstairs to stay with Mom and I tonight? We have plenty of space and we would love to have you with us."

"But shouldn't you ask Mom first, she wasn't exactly happy with me earlier. The last few days I have kind of been hard to put up with…"

"You have already apologized and been forgiven from yesterday. Did you apologize for today?" Callie shook her head for no. "Well, you should, perhaps in the morning. Mom wants you to feel safe and happy. If being with us for the night helps with that, she really would want you to join us. We both love you so much, Callie. Like I said before, there is nothing you can do that could change how much we love you."

Callie stood up with Lena and soon found herself laying between her mothers feeling warm and safe. In the morning she would try to talk to Stef, but for now she would just sleep knowing that she was loved.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N Thanks for all of your reviews! I wasn't sure when I started how long this was going to get, but I appreciate everyone reading it. :)**

Stef woke up to her alarm at 5:45. She tried to slip out of bed quietly so that she would not disturb her daughter or her wife. Stef had briefly woken when Callie and Lena had joined her around one. Since then they had all slept quietly.

Stef got into the shower to ensure that she could have hot water she could already hear the other shower and assumed Mariana was up. After a quick shower, she wrapped up in a towel and went to wake up Callie. Stef leaned in and kissed her daughter much like Lena had done the night before. Then she whispered to her so as not to disturb Lena. "Callie, it is time to get up, Baby. If you need a shower, mine is open."

Callie opened her eyes slowly. "I showered last night… just let me sleep."

"No, Baby. You have to get up. If you don't need a shower, just go start getting ready for the day."

Callie groaned a little and then she remembered her talk with Lena last night. "Mom, I am sorry about my attitude in the car. I know better than to mumble and to play you against Mama."

"I know, Baby. You are always sorry after these things happen. The reason why we ground you or take things away is to try to stop that attitude before it happens." Stef stopped and thought about what her mother had said. "Maybe, Bug, we could come up with a signal between us. It would be a warning of sorts. Either of us could give the signal and the other would give some space. Now, if I think you are in danger or if you are disrespectful I will still intervene. What do you think, Callie?"

"I think it is worth trying. I love you, Mom."

"Love you, too. Now, though, you must go get dressed so that I can." Callie stood up and started stretching. Then went to grab her clothing. Stef opened her closet to find clothes as well. As soon as Callie was gone, Stef got dressed to continue her rounds of waking the kids up. The boys were fairly easy since they were all in one room. Stef turned on the light and loudly told them to get up. She knew that both Jesus and Jude needed showers as both had sugar crashes last night after the movie. Brandon had showered the night before. Jude went to shower in her room while Jesus headed for the kids' bathroom.

By this time, Stef could smell breakfast cooking and went to join her mother. "Good morning, Mom!"

"Good morning, Baby! I am making French toast and bacon, your favorites. How did you sleep last night?"

"Lena and I had a visitor… Callie had a nightmare and joined us. I did okay, though. So, Mom, I was thinking about what you told me last night. Do you remember when we developed our sign so that we would both know when frustration was setting in?"

"I do, Stefanie. I think it was one of my better strategies. It kept us from several fights that otherwise would have been inevitable."

"Well, I almost hate to say this, but I took your advice and Callie and I are going to try it. Grounding has been fairly effective, but I also know that sometimes it made me resent you. I also hate to admit this, but I am just like you and I am raising a daughter just like me. It is not in my nature to stop and think before I act."

Sharon put her arms around her daughter and kissed her cheek. "I know, dear. It's not in mine either. That's why we butted heads so often."

The kids were gathering into the kitchen by now ready to eat. They looked tired, but not as grumpy as Stef was afraid they would be considering the circumstances. Jude's eyes lit up when he saw the French toast. "We never get this! Thanks, Grandma!" He turned to Jesus, "Don't hog all the syrup, I need some, too!"

Stef eyed both boys. "That is more than enough for you Jesus and Jude, remember that you don't need so much." Stef snatched the syrup from Jesus's hands and gave it to Jude. After he put some on, she grabbed it back from him putting it in the middle of the table. "I swear those two would eat solid sugar for every meal if it was offered."

Towards the end of the meal Stef looked at Jesus. "Hey, Bud, make sure you take your meds."

"But, Mom, it is a weekend. Mama doesn't make me take it on weekends." He protested.

Stef knew that Lena did not want Jesus being dependent on his medication and had opted to not have him take it most weekends. "I am not taking you to a store to look at breakable things without your medication. So, we are making an exception for today only. Tomorrow you can work things out with Mama."

Reluctantly, he took it. Stef then sent Jude up to find his shoes and wash his face. Mariana ran back up the stairs to finish her make up. Callie volunteered to help with Sharon and Stef with the dishes. "Oh, no, Callie! You don't need to help us." Sharon said.

"It is okay, Grandma. Yesterday was my turn to do dishes and we went out to eat. I don't mind helping today."

"Stefanie, how many chores do you make my grandbabies do anyway?" Sharon asked as she washed a dish and handed it to Stef to rinse.

"Not that many, Mom. I mean, there are five of them to divide up chores with. A few dishes never hurt anyone. Lena and I feel strongly that doing chores will help them to grow up better." Stef looked at her mom with a smirk. "As an only child, on the other hand, you had me doing everything…"

"Everything? Is that how you remember it? Not even close. You did dishes twice a week, took out the trash, and straightened your room. While you were at school, I swept, vacuumed, cleaned, and did everything else. I also cooked all of your meals. You rarely even helped."

"That explains a lot about your cooking." Callie grinned drying a plate. "Really, though, Grandma, the chores here aren't that bad. We have two dish days a week and some other little things besides keeping our rooms nice. Every now and then we do a little more like when you guys were coming."

"Stefanie, did you make my grandbabies clean the entire house before we came?"

"Why else would I have five kids? One kid could have never done all of it. Five, though, can get quite a bit done. You got to work at home, but Lena and I both have jobs to support this large of a family. As Callie said, the kids don't really mind. Thursday, they voluntarily cleaned the house just as Callie volunteered to do the dishes. It is just what we do." Stef went over to Callie and give her another kiss to her head. "We have really good kids. Thanks for your help, Baby."

"No problem, Mom!"

A few minutes later, the kids, Sharon and Stef were all loaded into the van. Stef passed Callie's IPod to her knowing that she really liked to listen to music in the car. She smiled up in appreciation. On the way to Ikea, the car was unusually quiet. Stef glanced back to see Callie and Jesus listening to music, Jude squished between a sleeping Mariana and Brandon. As it was certain that her kids would not be listening, Stef decided to go over the ground rules with her mother.

"Okay, as I said yesterday, our point is to buy three lamps and waste the entire morning. The kids are paying for these lamps together. They do not have a lot of money, so we are looking for something inexpensive that Lena will allow in the house. Before we get there, I want to establish with you that you are not to give the kids money on this trip to buy anything."

"What if one of them is looking at something other than a lamp that they really want?"

"We are going to a furniture store and they don't need any other furniture. We are going there because they broke things that they need to replace. They cannot be rewarded on this trip. If they really like it, they can buy it themselves."

"You already said they don't have much money…"

"I will drop you off next door to Ikea unless you promise that you will not give the kids money and not buy anything for them on this trip. I am serious, Mom. They will ask you and you must say no. Pretend that you are talking to me. You never had a hard time telling me no."

"Okay, Stefanie. I will not give the kids money or buy anything for them in this store. Can we take the kids to another store when we are done here? Maybe one that I can buy them something because they are not in trouble there?"

"No. In fact, I said before that we would take them out to eat, but Lena actually decided she would rather feed our little pets at home. So, after this we will just swing by the house and drop the kids off with their mama. Then, we have the whole afternoon to spend together. How does that sound?"

"Can't we do something fun with the kids before we take them home? I don't want them to feel like they are in trouble all day!"

"Do I need to remind you that they are all grounded right now? That means they are in trouble all day." Stef sighed. "Maybe this evening you can do something with just them? Anything you want? Is that fair?"

"Yes, I can take that deal."

"Now, the deal is off if you give the kids money or buy them anything this morning. Do you understand that?"

"I believe you are trying to bribe me. You are an officer of the law and you are trying to bribe me. However, I will take still take it."

XXXXX

Lena got up a couple of hours after the kids left and was pleased to see that Sharon had made enough French toast for her and her parents. Dana was already sitting at the table eating. She poured a cup of coffee and joined her mother.

"Was Callie okay last night? I didn't hear her scream anymore after I went upstairs."

"Callie was fine when she calmed down a little, Mom." Lena said casually. "I took her upstairs to sleep with Stef and me last night."

"You let your kids sleep with you? I remember breaking you of that habit when you were a toddler. You tried again one time during a thunderstorm when you were five. We took you back to your own bed. Do you remember that, Lena?"

"Yes, I do, Mom. However, when my children have nightmares or fears at night it is fairly standard for them to come sleep in my room with me and my wife. They sleep in their own beds most of the time, but I don't think it is bad to provide them with extra comfort occasionally. Especially if it helps them sleep."

"Are you saying that we did not provide you with comfort because you did not get to stay with us at night?"

"No, Mom. I just do things differently than you did. Mariana, Jesus, Callie, and Jude have all been through so much in their lives. This is the only steady family they have really ever had. Jesus has not slept in our room in years. Mariana is more of a once a month visitor. Callie and Jude are a little more frequent right now. Last night Callie asked me to stay with her. There was no way that I was going make her stay alone after that."

"Whatever you want to set up with them is fine. I just know that if you allow children in your bed, you may not ever get another alone night again. If you are both fine with that…" Dana said with some bite to her words. "So, what about Jude's pattern?"

Lena sighed again. "Jude is none of your concern, Mom."

"Oh, but he is. Let me guess, you son who is now thirteen, ends up in your bed with you more than once a week. Lena, that boy is just like you. If I had allowed you to stay with us in bed, you would have been there every night. I noticed last night that he is overly sensitive much like you. What are you going to do about that?"

"Nothing, Mom. Sensitivity doesn't make a person weak. He is going to be an excellent father someday. He is going to find a job where is compassion and sensitivity will be a strength. Jude is just a sweet sort of kid."

"Who cannot make decision independent of his mama?"

"Oh, he can and he does. It's just that he has always depended on Callie for everything until now. I like it that he is coming to Stef and me now. Once he is fully adjusted to living here, I think he will be more like the others. For the record it is more like once a week that he ends up with us and normally he doesn't arrive until around five in the morning."

XXXXX

"How much longer until we can be done here, Mom?" Mariana whined for about the millionth time since they arrived.

"Just until we are able to find the lamps that we need. You all broke them after all, the least you can do is help replace them. It is a big deal to find just the right ones for the family room."

"Mama broke one of them. She should have to make a trip here and shop forever just to replace it…." Jesus complained.

"I think we have seen every lamp in here at least three times. Just make a choice." Callie griped.

"Jesus, we are not going there right now. We are about ready to make some choices, Callie. Jude, what are you thinking for the one in your room?"

Jude promptly went over to a counter of lamps on sale for five dollars apiece. "I think this one will work for me. I like the color and it is good."

"No, Bud. This one is the kind of lamp that goes on a desk, not on a side table. I was thinking of something more like this for you." Stef said picking up a slightly more expensive model that was blue.

Jude looked at Jesus who gave him a thumbs up. "That one will work."

Stef then went back over to the collection of living room lamps. She picked up an eighty dollar lamp first. "I sort of like the overall shape of this one. I think your mama would like the color. What do you guys think?"

"I really don't think that one looks quite right." Brandon said eying the price.

"Oh, you finally have an opinion? I see. Well, which one do you think Mama would like?"

Brandon picked up a cheap plastic lamp. "I think she would like this one. It looks like it wouldn't break very easy and it is sort of decorative."

"Yes, I agree, B." Jesus joined in. "Mama likes green and it comes in green. It looks perfect."

"There is nothing in the family room that is green. If we were to buy those, she would send us back here. Let's do a good job the first time so that we don't have to do this again, yes?" Stef asked looking at her kids.

Mariana looked carefully at the choices and finally selected a lamp with a silver base and a red colored shade. She knew that not only would it look nice in the family room, but it was also Lena's favorite color. The price was also not bad at thirty dollars each. "This is the one Mama would love. Do you like it, Mom?"

"I think it is perfect, Love. Do you all have your money with you?" The kids nodded. "Good. Okay, Jude, I need you to do some math for me. If we buy two lamps for thirty dollars each and one lamp that is ten, how much money do we need?"

Jude gulped. "Seventy dollars, plus tax, right?"

"Very good son." Lena and Stef had both been trying to show Jude real world applications to use the math that he hated the most. "So, if we were splitting that five ways, how much do each of you need to pay?"

"Well, I don't have paper… But I know that five goes into seven once… Bring down the two which makes twenty. Five goes into twenty four times. So, fourteen dollars?"

"Excellent job, Jude! I can see you are really working on this math stuff! Tax is going to add a little more, so you should all look out fifteen dollars."

The kids groaned a little, but then got into their purses and wallets to find the money. Jesus was a few dollars short, but Jude was able to loan him the rest. Stef sent the kids up to the register to make their purchases. "I have to say, Mom, you did really well with us today. You have definitely earned your evening with the kids. You didn't even crack when they were all whining or when Jesus needed a few dollars."

"I was just intrigued watching you handle your kids. Your bond with them is really something special, you know." Sharon took Stef's hand. "You are doing a great job, Honey."


	17. Chapter 17

"Okay, kids, I just got off the phone with your mama. She will have lunch ready for you at home. So, we will drive home and I will let you all out of the car. My mom and I have a lunch date."

"Can we at least stop for ice cream on the way home?" Mariana whined from the back.

"I like ice cream. Please, Mom!" Jude joined.

"Not right now, sorry. We came for one mission and we completed it. Ice cream right now would ruin your lunch anyway."

"But, Mom, I am hungry right now. We are like almost an hour from home. Can't we stop to eat something?" Jesus asked.

"No means no, guys." Stef looked back at both Brandon and Callie. "Anyone else have anything to say about this?"

Callie rolled her eyes and started to say something. Stef made eye contact with the girl using the rear view mirror and Callie made the letter C with one hand. Stef nodded slightly and Callie put her ear buds into her ears in order to listen to her IPod. Stef shared a smile with her mother knowing that this was a small victory.

The rest of the ride home Jesus, Mariana, and Jude entertained themselves by making up stories about the people in the other cars they passed. When they were finished, they would crack up laughing receiving a glare from Brandon. Callie was completely relaxed listening to her music and did not care how much noise the others were making.

When they were just a few minutes from home, Brandon had all he could take. "Shut up! You guys are so annoying!"

"We are just trying to have fun, Brandon. I guess you wouldn't know much about that, though, Piano Boy." Jesus said back quickly.

"Well stop! You are being way too loud. Some of us just want a few peaceful moments. Is that too much to ask?"

"Yes!"

Jude nudged Jesus knowing that it was only a few moments before Stef intervened to break up this fight. Jesus shoved him back harder, knocking him into Mariana. She also pushed Jude. Out of frustration, Jude raised his hand to hit Mariana.

All the sudden the car came to a screeching halt on the side of the road. Stef shut off the engine and got out of the van. She walked over to the sliding door and opened it. The whole back seat as well as Brandon froze. Stef pointed at Brandon, "You out of the car. It is less than a block to get home and you are walking. I hope that will give you your peaceful moments."

"But Mom, I was just…"

"You were just ruining our ride home. As for you three, I want Jude to move to Brandon's seat. When we get home, eat lunch, and then you will find separate places to hang out for a while. Got it?"

Jude, Jesus, and Mariana nodded vigorously. Brandon reluctantly climbed out of the car and Jude moved seats. When Stef and the kids (minus Brandon of course) reached the house, she sent the kids inside with the lamps and sent a quick text to Lena to let her know what happened.

Lena heard the kids outside. She glanced at her phone and saw she had a new message. "Brandon started a fight in the car with the youngest three. He is walking the last bit. I told the other three that after lunch they need to separate. Love you."

Lena wrote back and went to greet the kids. She was pleased to see that Callie had her IPod back. "Hey babies, welcome back home. I cooked some fish and have everything out for fish tacos. Go wash up and eat."

Jude hugged her, she suspected out of guilt, before washing his hands in the kitchen sink. Soon, they were ready to eat. "Callie, I am glad you got your music back, but please take it off while we are eating." Callie did not want her IPod taken away again so she took out the ear buds without arguing and put them in her pocket. "So, when do I get to see our new lamps?"

"We should probably wait until B gets home." Callie suggested.

Stuart and Dana joined the family at the table. "Where is Brandon, anyway?" Dana asked looking around. "Did he not come back with you guys?"

"Brandon who?" Jesus asked with his mouthful.

Lena shot him a look. "Do not talk with food in your mouth…" Then she looked at her mother. "Stef said that she had him walk a little while to cool off. Something about some fighting in the car."

"I wasn't really going to hit her, Mama." Jude said quietly not knowing how much Stef had shared with Lena already. "I just nudged Jesus so that we wouldn't get in trouble and then I got shoved around. I was never going to hit. Right, Mari?"

"Right. Brandon told us to shut up. Jesus argued with him. Jude and I were just trying keep to ourselves." Mariana thought for a moment. "Actually, Jesus was just defending us. It was all Brandon's fault."

Jesus and Jude readily agreed. Lena was looking skeptical. "Well, after lunch you three are all going to find quiet individual activities to do. I will be checking more with your mom and Brandon to see what they think happened."

Brandon came in about then. He washed his hands and joined the others. "Did you guys show Mama the lamps we bought yet?"

"No, B, they thought we should wait on you. Eat and we will look at them together when we are done."

Dana was confused over much of the lunch discussion so far. She finally decided to ask some questions. "So, Brandon, your mom made you walk back from the store today?"

Lena gave her mom a look, but Brandon answered anyway. "Not the whole way, just the last few minutes. I was just needing a few minutes to myself after the long morning. Mom said I could walk, so I did. It was very refreshing."

"Then, you chose to walk home?" Stuart asked joining the questioning.

"Yes. Is that what happened, Callie?"

"I am not getting involved in this one." Callie said with a small laugh. "I am the only one who was never part, and I am planning to remain that way."

Brandon looked carefully at the other three and figured they had already told on him. "Well, maybe not exactly chose to walk home, but it was still a nice way to clear my head."

"I see," Dana said. "And why would you, Jude, immediately say that you were not going to hit someone?"

"I don't know." He stuttered quietly. "Hitting is really bad and I didn't anyone to think that I would hit."

"That's an easy one. When Mom pulled the car over, Jude had his hand up ready to hit Mariana for pushing him. I can honestly say that I didn't lay a hand on any of them. The shoving was all them. All I did was try to get them to be a little quieter in the car."

"I see." Dana said. "So you told them to shut up, right?"

"Maybe. I mean, I don't remember my specific words." Brandon was even squirming a little under Lena and Dana's matching gazes. He knew that Lena, at least, considered telling someone to shut up verbal violence.

"Well then," Lena said to change the subject even though she was visibly irritated with the kids. "I can't wait to see the lamps you all picked out. Then you can all have a little time and space."

Lena loved the lamps. She had Callie help her get them all set up as she sent Mariana to her bedroom, Jesus to his room, Brandon to the master bedroom and Jude went outside with his Percy Jackson book. Stuart went upstairs to take a nap in Brandon's room.

Dana went upstairs and got a package and met Jude outside. "Hey, Jude. Gramps and I got you a little something."

"Thanks, Gram, but you really didn't have to. We didn't invite you just to get presents…"

"I know. Your mama has been telling me how much you like to read." Jude opened the package to reveal the whole set of "The Borrowers" books. "This series was your mama's favorite growing up. I read the first one with her at bedtime and she read the others herself."

Jude looked at the set of books. "And these are for me? Like I don't have to borrow them from anyone else? Thanks, Gram!" Jude wrapped his arms around Dana tightly and gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Do you think Mama will want to read the first one with me?"

"I know she would love to read it with you, Jude. You remind me so much of my little girl. I am glad you are here and belong to us." Dana hugged the boy again before getting up and noticing Lena watching them from the window.

"I love you, Grams!" Jude called out as she walked away.

Dana got a little choked up. She looked back at him with a few tears in her eyes. "I love you, too, Jude."

When Dana came back into the house Lena hugged her. "I got him the complete set of 'The Borrowers.' I told him that you would read the first one with him."

Lena's face sort of fell some. "I will read it with him, but I am not sure how he will feel about those books in particular. They were my favorites, but Jude has a small issue… Callie calls him a borrower of things. He has gotten in trouble in multiple foster homes for stealing things. As far as we know, here, he has just taken food to horde just in case he was sent away." Lena paused for a moment.

"Oh, Lena. I had no idea! If he doesn't like them, I can send them back and get him a different group of books."

"The more I think about it, though, the more I think that series could be another way to address the issue. It is certainly worth a try. Anyway, the kid loves to read and he really doesn't have many books of his very own." Lena wanted to reassure her mother that the present was good and she did really think that perhaps they would help her little borrower.

Dana went back upstairs and got another small present out and when looking for Callie. She found the girl in the family room watching Jude from the window. "Hello, Callie."

Callie startled a little. "Oh, hey Gram."

"I got you a little something. It isn't much, but I thought it would be something you would like."

Callie opened her present to find a guitar pick with her first name printed on it as well as a new set of guitar strings and an ITunes gift card. Callie was stunned by the thoughtfulness of the gift and looked at her grandmother in silence. "Your mama told me that you play the guitar. I wasn't sure what we help with that, but I went into a music store and the boy in there said a new pick and strings would help any guitar player. I threw in the gift card so you could get some new music."

Callie suddenly launched herself at Dana. "Thank you so much, Gram! I can use all of this. In fact, I think these are better strings than what I have on my guitar right now! As soon as I get my computer back, I will use the card, I already know what songs I am going to buy!"

Dana had never seen the girl so animated. "You are welcome, Callie." After a pause, she decided to be first this time. "I love you, Callie."

"I am not just saying this because you gave me the most awesome present, but I love you, too, Gram."

Dana left Callie again feeling rather teary. Just a few months back, she had told Lena that adopting two more kids was a bad idea. Now, Dana was left feeling blessed that Lena had not listened to her. She couldn't even imagine this family without Jude and Callie. Dana walked back to Lena again, who had been keeping an eye on that situation as well. "You know that I would never hurt one of your kids, right?"

"I know, Mom. I just like to see them interact with you. Stef and I spend so much time with them that it is hard to see the little changes they have made. Callie and Jude have come so far. Remember when you saw them at the funeral? Callie was so distant and not even sure if she wanted to still be with us. Now, she is hugging you and telling you that she loves you. It makes all the hard days with her worth it."

"I can see that. She has made many changes. I am sorry that I have been so critical of how you and Stef are raising these kids. When I look back, I wish that I had spent more time giving you snuggles when you were small. I had no idea that you would grow up so fast."

Lena once again put her arms around her mother. "You were right when you told Callie at the funeral that a girl needs her mom longer than just eighteen years. It's not too late, Mom."

"What is going on tonight, Lena?" Dana asked after a few minutes.

"Well, I think that Sharon volunteered to take all of the kids somewhere. Stef said it was up to her where they went and what they did."

"Do you think she would like another adult or two with her?" Dana asked. "It might be nice for you and your wife to have an evening alone if you know what I mean.'

"Why don't you give her a call and ask?" Lena answered giggling some. "We do like time alone, but we also would love to entertain you and Daddy tonight."

Dana got her phone out and called Sharon to see if they could tag along tonight. Sharon readily agreed as long as they still left it up to the kids on what to do. They were also both hoping to get more details of the surprise the kids had planned.

Dana wandered back upstairs only to find Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon doing laundry in the moms' room. "I thought that you all were separated for the afternoon. What's up?"

"Nothing." Jesus said standing in front of one pile of laundry.

"Well, it looks like you all are doing laundry to me. Do you need any help?"

"I assure you that I am seriously doing nothing, Gram. Mariana and Brandon are in charge of the other nothing. We could use Callie's help, though. Do you know where she is?"

Callie had just found the opportunity to come upstairs herself knowing that her siblings were trying to get another surprise done. "I am here, Jesus. How about if you go downstairs with Gram now and keep Mama busy?"

Dana got the hint and grabbed Jesus. "Okay, guys, I will leave you still up to nothing. Let me know quickly if anything goes wrong, okay? In the meantime, I will take this one back downstairs with me. He won't be in trouble for coming downstairs, right?"

"He shouldn't, as long as he avoids fighting with Jude which shouldn't be too difficult." Brandon answered for the group. "We aren't exactly in trouble, they just don't want us to fight anymore. Clearly, we are no longer fighting."

"Okay, I just don't want to get you into more trouble. I will not tell Lena what you all are doing and I will keep her downstairs. Is there anything else you need?"

"We have some errands that we will need to run tonight. I think we are going with Grandma, but if you could get us a computer, it would really help with our plans. You could tell that you need to check your email or something?"

"I am actually going with you all this evening. We can take two cars and split up if necessary. I will go ask Lena if I can borrow a computer for Gramps to check his email. Then, I can send it up with Jesus and leave it here with you guys. Sound good?"

All the kids looked over at Dana with odd expressions, but Callie was the first to speak. "I assumed the sneakiness came from Mom's side of the family. I am just getting to the point of sorting out all of this family stuff, but it seem to me that we might have from both sides."


	18. Chapter 18

"Stuart and I will take the van with Jude, Mariana, and Callie if you take Jesus and Brandon in the car." Dana suggested.

"I think it would be better if we switched Brandon and Callie. I know you said the boys were getting along just fine this afternoon, but I still don't want to haul them together." Sharon answered thoughtfully.

"And you said the first place to take them was to eat, right? Did they tell you where? I would like to set my phone to the right location."

"They said there was a new pizza buffet not too far from here. The buffet comes with soft drinks and well as dessert pizza. It has a game room and go carts apparently. Their moms obviously don't want to take them there." Sharon said smiling.

"It sounds like the perfect place to take our grandbabies."

The grandparents and kids loaded up in the cars to head to an early dinner. Jesus and Jude ate quickly. Stuart gave both of them ten dollars to use in the game room. The other kids ate a little slower and walked around a little before they rode in the go carts. Sharon then realized if they were going to go by a florist, they needed to go right away. Everyone loaded back into the cars.

At the florist, Mariana had to do most of the picking. All of the kids, except Jesus who was out of money, went together to buy two bouquets of flowers. As they were leaving another bouquet caught Callie's attention and she called Jude over to look. "Our mom loved pink roses. Donald brought some for her once. She kept them until they dried out. We put the petals in a bowl she left on the table. When I see them I remember her." Callie had some tears in her eyes, but wiped them away. She took Jude's hand and left the shop.

Sharon overheard the conversation. She grabbed the bouquet and took them to the counter. "It looks like we need one more after all." She paid for them and went to catch up with the kids. Sharon knew the right moment would come for those flowers, but was unsure when it would be. So, she tucked them under the seat where Callie could not see them.

"Where to next, Callie?"

"Well, we need a place we can make cards. Lena wants ones that come from our hearts. Stef would like ones that do not destroy the family room again. The others said that Lena has kept all their first Mother's Day cards, so I think it is important."

"Let's go talk to the others in the van for a little while and see what we can come up with."

Jesus, Callie, and Sharon walked over to where the van was parked. "Callie says the next thing is card making. Lena keeps their first Mother's Day cards so Callie and Jude definitely need to make some."

"This is sort of last minute, as it is seven-thirty the night before…" Dana commented.

"If it helps, we sort of tried it once before. It is sort of how the lamps got broken to begin with… And even if that hadn't happened, we are really not all that crafty. I threw them away." Mariana confessed looking awkwardly at the others.

"Our only other idea was to make that photo collage for the family room, but without our phones we don't have pictures for it. I just want tomorrow to be perfect." Callie sighed. "I know that I am not official yet, but is the closest I have been ever to having a family. I have not celebrated Mother's Day ever since my mother died. Now I have two more and it has to be perfect."

"Calm down, Sweetheart! Take a deep breath." Dana said rubbing Callie's arm. "Everything will be perfect. Your moms will both know that it is from your heart. All they really want is you, I promise, as a mother myself, I am just excited to spend the day with my baby and her babies."

Sharon suspected that the flowers she secretly purchased would go a long way in helping tomorrow to go perfectly for the girl.

Mariana, in the meantime, had borrowed Sharon's phone and was looking for ideas on Pinterest. "Okay, guys, I think I have something here. We need to go to Target for some supplies."

XXXXX

"Love, did you do laundry today? Like all of it?" Stef asked.

"No, I slept in this morning, ate French toast with my parents, had some alone time, sent the kids upstairs… No. I didn't even go back upstairs since I got up this morning. Why?"

"Our laundry is done, folded, and placed on our bed. Jesus and Jude both had piles also. The other three must have put theirs away already. In fact, I looked in the hampers and we have no dirty clothing here at all. Even our towels and all the sheets were all washed. Do you think your mom did it?"

"Mom was with me almost the entire day. My dad did take a nap in the afternoon, but I don't think he would do all our laundry. The only ones that leaves is the kids. I did send some of them upstairs this afternoon. Callie also disappeared after a while. I thought she was playing her guitar, but when I think about it, I never heard it. Do you think they would do that?"

"As odd as it sounds, yes. It sort of makes sense. They were all grounded and banished to be upstairs. That is where the laundry is done. Our oldest daughter is also trying to do things to be on our good side, I think. I can see her hands all over this one."

"What do you say to a romantic dinner in our super clean house while we are alone?" Lena asked giving Stef a kiss on the cheek.

XXXXXX

The grandparents brought the kids back by eleven and they were all exhausted. Callie almost immediately got into the shower in the moms' bathroom knowing it was her best chance for hot water. Brandon went to shower in the kids' bathroom for the same reason. Dana went and got Jesus's present for him as she thought she could get him alone for a moment. Mariana asked to borrow Sharon's phone to use as an alarm clock and hid the flowers and cards at the same time.

That left Jude with a little time by himself. Jude was happy in the Foster family. He, unlike Callie, was able to be adopted and adjusted quickly to this family. All of this Mother's Day preparation as well as Callie mentioning pink roses made him a little sad, though. He slipped up to his room without anyone noticing him and shut the door. He opened the top drawer of his dresser and shifted over the clothing until he found his picture.

This particular picture was Jude as a baby all wrapped in a soft looking blue blanket with his mother kissing his head. Whenever he missed his mother, he would take out this picture and study it closely. Over time, it had become his most fond memory of the mother he really could not remember. He carefully touched her face and let a few tears fall before he heard a knock at his door.

"Jude, Baby, are you in there? I didn't see you after you got back. Is everything okay?" Lena asked.

He wanted to answer, but he didn't think he could without crying. After a minute or two Jude heard his door opening and quickly shoved his picture behind his back. Lena and Stef had been so good to him, but he knew from other homes that his picture could get him in some trouble. His new mothers would without a doubt be unhappy that he still loved his first mom. Jude's new life was good; he did not want to rock the boat.

Lena came in and immediately saw that Jude was crying. She sat down on his bed and pulled her little boy to her. "Baby, what happened?" She asked stroking his hair as he continued to cry. "Shhh… Mama is here, Jude. Whatever it is, it will be okay." Jude wrapped his arms around Lena's neck accidently dropping his picture.

Lena reached down and picked it up to hand back to Jude. As soon as he realized his mistake, he looked petrified. He wiggled his way out of his mama's embrace and took off running. Stef was walking up the stairs when Jude came barreling down. She moved over just in time to keep from being knocked down the stairs. "Slow down, Buddy. You know we don't like you running in the house."

Jude glanced back at his mother with tears still streaming down his face. Stef immediately noticed and caught up with him. He didn't want to stop, so she grabbed him into a bear hug. Lena was just a few steps behind still holding the picture. "Why don't we take this back upstairs to my room, Bud?" Stef suggested. She felt him shake a little in her arms clearly afraid.

The three of them walked back up the stairs, Jude feeling powerless between them. They went into the master bedroom and shut the door. "Baby, is this a picture of you with your mom?" Lena asked carefully.

Jude silently nodded some. Stef took the picture and examined it before speaking. "She was very pretty. When I look at her eyes, I see you, Bud. You look a bit like your mom, but who I really see in this picture is our little Callie Bug."

Callie got out of the shower and was glad she had brought pajamas into the bathroom because she didn't realized anyone would be in there when she was done. She immediately saw that Jude was upset, but she did not know what Stef and Lena were looking at.

"Hey, Love Bug, come sit down with us. I think this is something you both need to be here for." Stef said patting the space on the bed next to her. Callie was unsure what she did wrong this time, but went and sat down anyway. Stef put her arms around her daughter and showed her the picture.

"Jude didn't mean anything by getting this out. In fact, I think we could just tear it up now that he has been adopted." Callie said quickly. "We love you guys and you are our moms now."

Both moms looked at her with a new realization. Lena pulled Jude onto her lap and held him gently before she spoke. "Let's get something straight right now. Mom and I are aware that you two came to us with a past. Neither of us carried you inside our wombs for nine months. Neither of us were with you for your first word, first step, or even your first day of school." She held up the picture again. "This woman was there. I will always be grateful to her." Lena kissed Jude and gave him an extra squeeze.

"Yes, but she isn't you. We have you now, so we don't need things like this anymore." Callie made a swipe at grabbing the picture, but Stef got it instead. "We love you guys and our life here."

"And you also love your mother." Lena added. "It isn't a problem, Cals. I love Sharon as a mom, but it doesn't change how much I love my own mother. I love Brandon, but when I met you two I loved you just as much. Love is not like anything else. It isn't used up because you find more people to love. Love is healthy and having a permanent connection to your past is good, Sweetheart."

"Do you guys have more pictures?" Stef asked curiously looking at the picture again. "I would really like to make copies of this picture to put with the other baby pictures. Maybe instead of tearing this one up, we could have it framed?"

"So, you aren't mad?" Jude asked drying his face a little with his arm.

"Mad?" Lena asked rubbing her thumbs under Jude's eyes catching the last of his tears. "Of course not! We love you and, in turn, we also love your mother. Mom was right, Jude. You do have your mother's eyes. But, Callie, you look just like her. How old was she here?"

"She was young… Like maybe twenty." Callie answered. She knew that Lena and Stef would not judge her mother, but also kept many of the details about her mom to herself.

"Would that make her like your age when you were born?" Stef asked squinting in thought.

"Something like that." Callie said quietly. "Her parents kicked her out when she found out she was pregnant. Donald took her in. She married Donald sometime after I was born. I thought he was my dad, but it all sort of makes sense now that I think about it."

"I bet she was scared. I was several years older and I didn't get kicked out of anywhere when I found out I was pregnant with Brandon. I was still scared and alone… Do you know if your grandparents ever forgave your mother?"

Callie shook her head. "We never met them. They didn't even come to the funeral as far as I know. Social services said they contacted them, but they didn't ever come for us. It really wasn't my mother's fault anyway, I was the problem. If it hadn't been for me, my mom would probably still be alive somewhere."

"Callie, you can't possibly think that! Your grandparents made a mistake kicking you and your mother out of their house. A baby, especially an unborn one, cannot cause any of that." Lena took Callie's chin in her hands. "Look at me, Baby." Callie made eye contact with her mama. "You are not a mistake or a problem. Your mother loved you and you are a loved member of this family. Do you understand me?"

"I do sort of understand, Mama." Now Callie's tears had started. "But it may take some time for it to go all the way in."

"Like the first time we told you that we loved you." Stef said slowly. "Or the first time we called you our daughter. It does take time, but just like those things, you will get it eventually. You were not a mistake. Your mother died because she was in a car with a drunk driver. She had the choice to not ride with Donald that night. That was certainly not your choice for her."

Stef looked back over to Jude to find that he had gotten off of Lena's lap at some point and was now asleep in the middle of their bed with his picture securely in his hands. "Well, it appears that we have at least one visitor again tonight. How about you, Bug?"

Callie nodded. "I need to talk to Mari first, but I would like to stay here tonight, too, if it is okay."

"It is always okay with us, Baby." Lena assured her with a kiss.

Mariana decided to go stay in Jude's bed in the boys' room since it was going to be empty. She agreed to wake up Callie and Jude when the others got up. Lena and Stef said good night to their parents who were also tired after the evening with the kids. Then, they said good night to their three babies in the boys' room. At the doorway to their own room, they saw Callie and Jude both fast asleep in the middle of their bed.

"Our bed is going to be crowded with four people, Love." Stef said giving her wife a little kiss.

"Certainly is. My mother would be horrified. I wouldn't want it any other way tonight, though. We are going to wake up on Mother's Day with our two newest babies with us! How special is that?"

Lena walked over and kissed Jude on the head carefully getting his picture out of his hands so that it would not wrinkle while he slept. She looked at the picture again before laying on her end table. Then she leaned over Jude to kiss Callie one more time before tucking both kids into the sheets. Stef kissed both kids also and they laid down to sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

Mariana crept quietly into the master bedroom to wake Callie and Jude. She knew that Stef was a super light sleeper and it would be hard to get them out without waking her as well. Mari climbed over the foot of the bed to get to the middle without going over either mom. She shook Callie gently until she opened her eyes slightly. Fortunately, Callie remembered to be quiet. She reached over and shook Jude. All three climbed back over the foot of the bed without disturbing Lena or Stef.

The kids knew that showering and getting dressed would certainly wake everyone too quickly, so they all stayed in their pajamas. Callie took charge of the others quickly when they got downstairs. "Okay," she whispered noting that they still had to be quiet. "I am going to make my famous biscuits and gravy that I don't make very often. I could use help rolling out the dough and cutting biscuits. We also need someone to get the flowers and cards. It would be great if we could take one flower out of each bouquet to give to our grandmas."

The kids quickly split up. Brandon and Jesus volunteered to cut biscuits if Mariana and Jude could take care of the flowers and cards. Everyone was working together quietly, but happily. Soon the kitchen was starting to smell like biscuits. Callie started the gravy while Brandon started the coffee. Jesus cut up some fruit for a fruit salad.

Mariana found trays to carry the food on. Jude helped arrange the flowers and cards on the trays for his moms and the single flowers on the ones for his grandparents. Callie carefully put two open biscuits on each of the five plates and ladled gravy on top. Jesus added a bowl of fruit to each tray. Brandon poured a cup of coffee for each adult and added cream and sugar for the ones he knew wanted it. Mariana added silverware and napkins.

To prevent accidents, the kids decided not to carry the trays all at once. They all went upstairs and knocked quietly on Sharon's door first. She was delighted by the breakfast they surprised her with and also had not expected a flower. Each of the kids gave her a kiss to the cheek before going back downstairs to get the trays for Dana and Stuart. Again, they knocked quietly and then took in the food. Dana was equally excited by breakfast and the flower. She also received five kisses. Stuart thanked the kids for his food even though they were actually celebrating Mother's Day.

The trays for the moms were a little heavier with the flowers and they had no room for accidents. So, Callie and Mariana grabbed the flowers off of the trays to carry separately. Jude said he would carry the cards. Brandon and Jesus grabbed the trays carefully. Instead of knocking, Jude burst into the door and climbed up in between his mothers. He figured since he slept there last night they would not be surprised by his presence. The others wandered in slower and both Lena and Stef were already well in the process of waking up as they came in.

"Happy Mothers' Day!" The kids said loudly together causing Stef to sit all the way up and Lena to rub her eyes before she smiled.

"What time is it?" Stef asked squinting at her clock.

"It is almost seven. Definitely time to get up if we are going to get an early start on today's festivities!" The kids all came over to the bed setting the trays down first and then adding the flowers.

"This all looks fantastic!" Lena exclaimed looking at the set up. "Where is your food, though?"

"We were going to eat downstairs, so we didn't bring it up here. This is just for you guys." Jesus explained.

Stef looked at the kids and at her wife. "What are you guys waiting for? Go get your plates and get back up here. The only way to make this breakfast better is to share it with our babies!"

The kids hurried back down the stairs to make their plates. Callie poured herself a cup of coffee knowing that most days that was not acceptable, but thinking maybe today it would be okay. They carefully carried their food back up the stairs and settled all over their mothers' bed.

Stef noticed the coffee immediately. "Oh look, Bug brought us a coffee refill. How nice!" She grabbed the coffee cup from her daughter, noting that it was only about half filled now. Stef poured some into Lena's cup and poured the rest into her own.

Callie started to argue, but looked up to see Stef making a little C with her hand. Instead she gave a small smile. Talking back would certainly put a damper on the mood of the day. Callie still had in mind that everything needed to be perfect.

"Where did you guys the flowers?" Lena asked. "They are beautiful!"

"We went to a florist last night to get them. Mariana mostly picked them out, but we all helped. I am glad you like them, Mama." Jude said sitting a little closer.

"Miss Thing, you did very well. You remembered that I love daisies and that Mama loves red roses. This breakfast, I believe, is Callie's specialty. Thank you, Baby."

"You are welcome, Mom, but really we all worked together on all of this."

At the end of the meal, everyone stacked the dishes on the two trays. Brandon and Jesus carried them back downstairs, but came right back. Jude first handed Lena her card and then handed one to Stef. The front of each card featured a collage of pictures of the kids. Some of the pictures had been taken the night before and others were taken over the past year.

Lena had silent tears. "This is even better than the flowers. I see a family picture from the wedding right here and a picture of Jude and me from his adoption day next to it. And then there is a picture of some of you in go-karts. I do not remember taking you there…."

"We did that last night at that new pizza place. That's where we had dinner. Mariana won the race, by the way." Brandon said smiling.

"Since none of us had access to the pictures on our phones, Gram, Gramps, and Grandma let us use the pictures they had taken with theirs to make these cards. We didn't really have enough pictures to all make separate cards." Callie explained.

Stef opened her card to reveal five different colored handprints inside somewhat overlapping with labels. Five pieces of paper also fluttered out and she saw they were notes from each of her children. Now, Stef was also tearing up some. She picked up the first of the papers. "Dear Mom, I wanted you to know that I love you. Thank you for helping me with my skateboard and helping convince Mama to let me wrestle. I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Love, Jesus." The others would have to be read later as Stef didn't know if she could handle all of them at once.

Lena had also opened her card by this time. "I am definitely putting this in the scrapbook. I have all of my babies' handprints here and a little note from each one of you. These cards are unbelievably special. Thank you!" Each of the kids made their way over to Lena for hugs and kisses.

Stef watched the kids with Lena and smiled. "My turn." The kids laughed a little and then went over to Stef's side for more hugs and kisses.

They heard the shower start in the kids' bathroom. "This is actually just a little bit of the surprises we have planned for today." Callie said. "So we all probably need to get dressed and ready for the day."

"And we are going to the beach?" Stef asked and the kids all answered no. "Hmmm… I think we are going to need to know where we are actually going before we can properly prepare ourselves to go there. Right, Lena?"

"Right, Stef. You always say the little one is how we can get our information. So, Jude, if we are not going to the beach, where are we headed today?"

Jude didn't answer at first, but once he found himself in a Mama sandwich, he broke. "We are going to the zoo today! I said I wouldn't tell, but it is okay now?" He asked looked at his brothers and sisters.

"No one could have resisted at this point, Jude." Brandon said with a smile. "Anyway, Callie is right. We have a lot going on this morning. We all need to start getting ready."

Brandon and Callie were the only two who showered the night before. So, after they got dressed they started making sandwiches for their picnic. Callie got out lunchmeat, cheese, mustard, mayonnaise, peanut butter, and jelly and set it out on the counter. "Do we know what kind of sandwiches any of our grandparents like to eat?" Callie asked.

Brandon shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, but I really don't want to have to ask each person what they want to eat. Let's just make some and label them."

"But then someone might get something that they don't like. I want today to be perfect…."

"Seriously, Cal? Would your day be ruined to eat peanut butter instead of turkey and cheese? I really don't think most people will care that much. We can let our moms and grandparents choose first and then you and Mari. The rest of us will eat anything. In fact, between Jesus and Jude, they will eat everything that we bring. Sound good?"

Callie knew that Brandon's idea made sense, but she couldn't help continuing to think about it more. Finally she sighed and found a compromise. "No, my day won't be ruined no matter what I eat. It is most important what they others want. If we made five ham, five turkey, and five peanut butter, I think we can cover all of our bases. That way they will all get a choice of all three. Like you said, we can't take too much food."

"Right… I will get the bigger ice chest out of the garage in case the drinks become a similar problem." Brandon kind of considered that Callie was going a little extreme. He was the one who started working on this holiday with Callie being all hesitant. In fact, he could pinpoint the change in his sister to yesterday right after the flowers. All the sudden she said at the car that everything had to be perfect. This morning it had gone well, but now it was starting back. So far it was okay, but a little confusing.

Callie started making turkey and cheese sandwiches. When Jesus came down ready to go, she started him on the peanut butter and jelly. Brandon came back and started the ham. Callie labeled them all and put them in the ice chest.

"Okay, Moms like us to eat vegetables. We have carrots and celery. The carrots are ready to go, but the celery needs to be cleaned and cut." She placed the carrots into the ice chest and handed Brandon the celery. "We will also need drinks. Jesus will you start putting water bottles into the ice chest while I see what else we have?"

Brandon started washing the celery as Jesus piled in water. Callie found a few cans of pop and handed them to Jesus to add. By the time they were done, the large ice chest was full and quite heavy. Jesus could carry it, but it he was certainly hoping that it would not have to be carried all day. He and Brandon went and put it in the trunk of the van.

Mariana and Jude were also now ready to go. "Finally you guys are ready! I need you two to go find hand sanitizer, a blanket, and sunscreen." Jude looked at Callie confused. "Go now! I need to get started with the breakfast dishes!"

Mariana grabbed Jude. "I have no idea what that is about, but I would say we are better off leaving her alone right now. Do you know what is going on?"

"Maybe?" Jude said in a small voice. Just like he was unsure how his moms would handle him talking about his birth mom, he was a little afraid of Mariana. "We did stay with Mom and Mama last night, but I guess you already knew that."

"Yep, I stayed in your room because you were in there. Usually Callie only goes in there to sleep if she is having a nightmare. Last night she didn't have a nightmare, you guys just both stayed. Why?"

"No real reason. I feel asleep while they were all talking." Jude desperately wanted to change the topic. "I am sorry that I got shoved into you yesterday and seemed like I was going to hit you. Like I said at lunch, though I wasn't really going to do it."

"I am sorry I shoved you, too, but you didn't answer my question. What were Callie and Moms talking about last night? You were both in there forever before they came to say good night. Anyway, Callie started acting weird last night before we made the cards."

Jude sighed. He couldn't keep anything from Mariana any better than he could anyone else in his family. "Callie remembered something about our mom… I mean, Colleen. She saw some pink roses like my dad… Donald gave her once. It made me want to remember. So I got a picture out and Mama caught me looking at it. I shouldn't have gotten the picture out." Jude was hanging is head a little.

"Was Mama mad about it?" Mariana asked and Jude shook his head. "I didn't think she would be. I have a picture of Ana in my room that Mom had framed. I used to leave it out on my dresser, but after the shooting and everything… Well, it seemed better to put it in the dresser. They understand, you know?"

"I know. Mom offered to get a frame for my picture, too. It just feels a little funny. You know, having your new mom go out and get a frame for a picture of your old mom… Callie remembers more and it probably feels harder for her. Now Callie wants everything perfect today to make up for it, I guess."

"Well, we can get the stuff she wanted us to get, but let's do something else first." Mariana went into the bathroom and got some nail polish. They went back into the boys' room. "Do you want blue again or a different color?"

"Blue is good. How about you?"

XXXX

Jesus and Brandon came back in after loading the ice chest. Callie was ready for them. "Okay, I sent Mariana and Jude to find some things, but they haven't come back yet. I need to get the dishes done from this morning, so go get the other trays so I can get this done!"

"I could help with the dishes, Cals. Would that help?" Jesus asked touching her shoulder.

"No! Just go get those trays. I will be fine down here. Can't you guys just do what I ask?"

Neither had ever seen Callie quite this worked up. She had been odd earlier in the morning, but seemed to be getting crazier by the second. They quickly went to gather up the trays from their grandparents. Stuart offered to take down the trays. The boys ducked into Jesus's room only to find Jude and Mariana there as well.

"Do you guys want your nails done also?" Mariana asked with a smile.

"No, we are just… um…" Jesus stuttered.

"Trying to stay out of Callie's way?" Jude finished for them. "We are sort of hiding from her also. Should we tell Moms that she is acting strangely?"

XXXXX

Stuart took the trays down not knowing what he was walking into. Callie was downstairs trying to wash everything by herself. He was shocked to see the other kids not down there helping. "Hey, Callie. Where are the others?"

"I sent them to get things. Wait! What are you doing with the trays? Brandon and Jesus were supposed to grab those!"

"I saw them gathering these and I said I would bring them. Do you need some help there, Babe?"

"I don't need help from you!" Callie almost yelled. Stuart backed away and Stef entered the room.

"Callie Marie Adams Foster this is not acceptable behavior. I am not sure why you are yelling at your grandfather, but I do expect you will get yourself to my room right now, young lady." Stef kept her voice even and calm.

"Callie Jacobs. Callie Quinn Jacobs." Callie made eye contact with Stef.

"Now is not the time. Mama is up there. I will be up there in just a moment. Go!"

Callie gave an annoyed huff before leaving the room. Stef cringed as she stomped up the steps and heard her bedroom door slam. "Stef, it wasn't a big deal, really. I asked if she needed help with the dishes. She was just a little freaked out. I get the feeling that she is uncomfortable around me."

"No, it isn't just you. She has been acting on edge for a while. Lena and I will sort it out. I am sorry that this happened. The other kids are all hiding in the boys' room. Give us a few minutes and then could you maybe get them downstairs?"

"No problem, Stef. I will actually see if they can finish up the dishes also. Go take care of that little girl, but don't be too hard on her. Seriously, I don't think she meant anything by it."

"I will keep that in mind. Thanks, Stuart."


	20. Chapter 20

Lena was putting the last touches of her make-up on when she heard a door slam somewhere down the hall. Stef made it upstairs a minute or two later and was furious to not find Callie. "Where is she, Lena? I sent her up here to our room and she is not here."

"Where is who, Babe? What is going on anyway?" Lena asked trying to calm her wife down.

"Our little Callie has been cranky this morning. So very cranky that our other four children were hiding from her rather than completing the assigned tasks she gave them. Then, she was going to wash all the breakfast dishes alone and your dad offered to help. Our little angel yelled at him and told him that she didn't need any help from him. I sent her up here and she balked. Totally disrespectful. She was seriously yelling at him."

Lena was shocked and took a few seconds to think before she spoke. "I know that is upstairs somewhere I heard a door slam. Before we look for her, we need to stop and think. What is our approach? I agree that it was way out of bounds for her to yell at my dad. However, I also think there has to be something else going on here. We already know that yelling at her doesn't work very well…."

"We are not giving her mama cuddles for yelling at her grandfather, Lena. I am not planning to take her anywhere today, that's for sure. She doesn't get to do this and then go out and have fun with us."

"I am not suggesting cuddles, but I am suggesting that you take a few deep breaths and calm down before you talk to our daughter. Then we try to figure out where to go from there. We can't leave her home alone and we can't really cancel all of our plans. It isn't fair to the others."

"The others who have already taken her last grounding who were all hiding from her. I am pretty sure they are also fed up."

XXXX

Sharon was in the girls' room putting on her shoes when Callie burst into the room and slammed the door. Callie then dramatically launched herself on to her bed crying loudly. At first glance, Sharon could not tell whether these were tears of rage or of sadness. She concluded that it was a little of both.

"So, um, Callie, is something wrong?" Sharon ask lamely clearly feeling out of her league.

"Yes, everything is wrong." Callie answered through muffled sobs.

"Should I go get your moms?"

"No. I just want to be alone right now."

"Okay." Sharon opened the door and immediately ran into Lena and Stef. "I assume you are looking for Callie? She is on her bed."

"Thanks, Mom. Stuart and Dana are downstairs with the other kids. You can go join them if you want. We are not sure when and if we are going to the zoo today. Put on a movie or something downstairs for the others. We need to sort out Callie."

Sharon walked down stairs. Stef and Lena both took a deep breath and opened Callie's door. She was still on her bed crying. Stef was not sympathetic to Callie's tears, which frightened Lena a little.

"I will talk to her. You just stay out here until you are calm." Lena walked into the bedroom and sat down next to Callie. She rubbed her back just a little. "Okay, Babe, go ahead and sit up, please. You have had some time to cry and now I need to talk to you."

Callie rolled over and sat up. Her eyes were red still, but she had already stopped crying. "Thank you, Baby. Now, I need to hear from you exactly what happened this morning."

"All I wanted to do is make today go perfectly, but instead I ruined everything."

"As far as I know, the day has not been ruined yet. We received lovely flowers, ate a delicious breakfast, and opened the most fantastic cards I have ever seen. All the time getting to spend the whole weekend with our kids and our parents. Now, I was promised a zoo trip that seems to be on some shaky ground right now but, even if we are here all say the day still would not have been ruined."

"B, Jesus, and Mari told us stories about the Mother's Days before we came. The first one you had Brandon, he made you a card that you kept. We attempted to make cards and broke two lamps. However, we did get cards made last night at the last minute to make up for it. They told us about making breakfast for you guys the next year. It was a disaster, so I cooked biscuits and gravy for everyone this morning to make it better. One year they had the flower picking incident, so we went to a florist this year and bought some real ones. Another year they were going to clean the house and do the laundry, but didn't. So, this year we cleaned and did all the laundry perfectly. My most memorable Mother's Day with my birth mom included a picnic, but it rained. So, this morning I made Brandon and Jesus make sandwiches with me for a picnic. Everyone was being helpful until they quit showing back up. Then Gramps brought the trays that I ask Jesus and Brandon to bring to me. He asked to help, but I really wanted just the five of us to make this a special day for all of you. I was going to explain that, but then Stef rushed in. She called me by the wrong name and sent me up here."

Lena thought about all of those days that Callie mentioned before coming back to the present to tackle the smallest issue first. "Your mom called you the wrong name? Like the name of one of your siblings?" Lena knew she had this problem occasionally.

"Not exactly…" Callie answered quietly.

"I called her Callie Marie Adams Foster." Stef answered entering the room. "That will be your name soon, you know, Bug. I have been thinking about it so much that I consider it to already be your name. Do you not want to be adopted?"

"No, I do. It's just that my adoption did not work last time and I want it so bad that it hurts. Then, I have to listen to a constant stream of people calling me by the last name I long to have. It feels like it will never happen."

"I am sorry for that then, Bug. I just remembered that Jesus and Mariana were going by Foster everywhere more than a year before their adoption was complete. Jude grinned when he was called a Foster and demanded that Mama change the school records immediately after his adpotion. I assumed you were the same way. Your adoption is going to go through this time. We have been assured that it cannot happen again."

"Okay, so one issue has been resolved. Mom called you the right name, just at the wrong time. Callie do you have anything to say to Mom?"

"I am sorry that I yelled at you and came here instead of your room." Callie answered again super quietly looking more at the bedspread then at Stef.

"Now, as for the perfect day… all of those days you described are some of my most favorite days ever. Any days that we get to spend with you guys are perfect days. Take the day the lamps got broken, for instance. I was disappointed that none of you wanted to stay with me at school. I was irritated about the mess in the family room. It was still one of my most perfect days. Do you know why?"

"Not really. That night we broke a third lamp, Jude had a tantrum, and we all had to go to bed early the next night. It wasn't one of our best."

"It is one that I will always remember. I watched you guys working together to clean up. We had a nice dinner together. You called me Mama the first time. We found you guys throwing Uno cards in the boys' room laughing and just enjoying being together. We all watched a movie together and I saw you lean into Mom's arms. It erased all of my hurt and disappointment in an instant. I told you before that you are my heart and I meant it. I love you, Callie and I love the moments we get to spend together."

"I love you, too, Mama." Callie now had her head on Lena's shoulder and Lena had both arms around Callie.

Stef cleared her throat. "So since you seem to have gotten your mama cuddles, it is time for us to go back to the hard stuff. I understand that you wanted to make the day perfect, but in doing that you alienated your siblings, yelled at your grandfather, and acted disrespectfully to me. I am honestly not sure what to do with you yet. Could you at least tell me why it was this important to you?"

"I can't lose you, Mom." Callie started crying again and Lena held her closer. "I am such a mess. I arrived here broken and damaged. This last week I have gotten myself into so much trouble. I wanted to make things right, but I can't. Today was important and I ruined it like everything else that I touch. No matter what I do, nothing can be okay again. The whole point of Mother's Day is to spend time with your mom. I have two now, but I can't keep myself of thinking of another. It's not fair."

Somewhere in the middle of the outburst, Stef's heart melted again for her daughter. Stef moved in on the other side of Callie and also put her arms around her daughter creating a mama sandwich. Callie was now sobbing loudly into Stef's shoulder.

"Oh, Baby. It's okay." Lena soothed. "It really isn't fair, but you are not a mess, you are my baby."

XXXXX

Downstairs the kids were finished with the dishes and sat down to watch a movie. "Maybe we could go on to zoo and Callie and Moms could just catch up with us later?" Jesus suggested. He promptly received three pillows thrown at his head. "It was just a suggestion…"

"We aren't leaving without them." Mariana looked at Jude before she continued. "Callie is missing her birth mom. We've all been there, right, Jesus?" Brandon started to protest, but Mariana stopped him with a glare.

"I guess so." He shrugged throwing the pillows back.

"Then we will wait for her. She is our sister." The others nodded in agreement.

Stuart, Dana, and Sharon watched the exchange with interested before Sharon pulled the other two into the kitchen. "I got something yesterday that might just help our Callie girl. Everything can still work out, we just need to make a few adjustments."

XXXXX

Stef gave Callie one more kiss before she stood back up. "Mama and I will need to discuss some things before we can make a decision, Bug. I can say for a fact that you owe your grandpa an apology. After that, I am still not sure."

Sharon knocked at the door and peeked in. "I hope that I am not interrupting anything…"

"Really, Mom? You of course are interrupting, but of course you are always welcome."

"Maybe Callie could go downstairs and join her brothers and sisters while the rest of us talk over a few things and make a few changes to our schedule for today?"

Callie looked hopefully at her moms and Lena spoke up first. "That is a great suggestion. Callie, go ahead and join them." Callie quickly left the room as Dana and Stuart entered. "Stef and I really need to discuss something together as well… Maybe we could do that first?"

"I don't want to come between you and your wife, Sweetheart, but there are five kids waiting downstairs. If it helps, I think I understand why Callie yelled at me this morning. Please, don't cancel everything on my behalf."

"Okay, Stuart, you guys go first. Then we will talk…" Stef said sort of sarcastically.

"Stefanie Marie…."

"Sorry, Mom, I will watch my own attitude."

"Well, last night at the florist, Callie showed Jude a bouquet of pink roses. She said that was their mother's favorite flower. I bought them after they left the store and I have them right here." Sharon grabbed the roses from their hiding place in the room, glad that Callie had not seen them.

"We were thinking, perhaps we could go visit Callie and Jude's birth mom at the cemetery and place the flowers there. We could then have our picnic in a park on the way to the zoo. What do you two think?" Dana asked.

"I think you guys are the best moms in the whole world! Thank you, Mom!" Lena said going over to hug her mother. "Thank you, too, Sharon!"

"Isn't the zoo kind of expensive to just spend the afternoon there? We haven't been there in a long time, but I thought it was sort of an all-day activity. Maybe we should just drop the zoo and do the rest."

"Would it make a difference if you had a year-long pass to go back anytime that you wanted?" Stuart asked with a smile. "Don't tell the kids that I told you, but they seemed to think it would be great to be able to go back throughout the year and not just once."

The adults talked a little more before coming to an agreement. Stef and Lena decided their talk could wait for now and went downstairs with their parents. Stef turned off the movie with the remote and all of the kids groaned. "We have some changes to make to the schedule for the day. In a few minutes, we will all be loading into the cars. However, we are not going straight to the zoo. First, we have a special stop to make for Callie and Jude."

Sharon handed Callie the pink roses. "I bought these last night for your birth mother. You said they were her favorites and I wanted her to have the best."

Callie stood up and hugged Sharon with more tears. "You didn't have to do this, Grandma."

"I know, Callie, but I wanted to. I have never had the chance to properly thank the woman who gave birth to two of my grandchildren. It is my honor to help you with this."


	21. Chapter 21

Callie knew the name of the cemetery, but had to look it up for directions. Soon everyone was loaded into cars headed that direction. They decided for this part of the trip it would be best if the grandparents went in the van with Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon. Stef and Lena wanted to both be with Callie and Jude.

Right before they loaded into the cars, Callie found Stuart. "Um, Gramps, I am sorry about earlier. Instead of yelling at you, I should have explained that I wanted everything to be special. I just wanted for my siblings and I to serve all of you today and not make one of our guests work. Does that make sense?"

"It does. Actually, it makes a lot of sense. I told your moms that you probably had a good reason and you did." Stuart reached out to shake hands remembering that Callie was a little awkward with him before.

"I love you, Gramps!" Callie said as she reached to hug him.

"I love you, too, Callie." Stuart replied hugging her back.

Lena saw the interaction and beamed with pride. She walked over to them and Stuart included Lena in the hug.

Stef pulled her mother and Dana aside as well. "If you guys could go figure out which park to have the picnic in first, we will let you know when to bring the other kids by the cemetery. I think we need to see how it goes first."

"Are you sure that we should not take Jude as well, Stefanie? It might be better to give just Callie time alone before Jude comes in. He has adjusted so well and this visit may not help him the same way."

"Ordinarily, I would say let's ask him, but Jude sort of opened this topic last night when he was looking at a picture of his mother. He thought he needed to hide it from us. So, think it would be best if the four of us went to show both kids that we are not trying to replace their birth mother. However, if I see signs that Callie needs to be alone, I will call one of you to come get Jude."

Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon were already sitting in the van and becoming impatient. Jesus decided to hurry things along by climbing to the front of the car and honking the horn. He received glares from all five adults, but did accomplish his purpose as everyone got in a car.

Callie started to put her headphones in, but Lena stopped her. "Cals, we really need to talk a little before we get there. I will give you a choice of talking now or at eleven when we will be about halfway there. I know that you need to process some…"

Callie stuck her ear buds in her ears and closed her eyes. She opened her eyes moments later when her music stopped. Lena held up her IPod as she stuck it in her purse. "I was choosing to talk later, I just didn't want to interrupt you while you were talking."

"That was not the way to go about it and you know better, Callie. Mom and I know this is a hard day for you and we are doing our best to make it go as well as possible. I don't think I need to remind you that you are still in trouble with us from this morning."

"Okay…" Callie answered with a little bit of attitude before she caught herself and cleared her throat. "Mama, may I listen to my music for the first half and then talk when we get closer? I am needing a little time and space to think right now."

Lena fished the IPod back out of her purse. "Of course, Callie." Lena handed the IPod back to her daughter. "Thank you for asking so nicely."

Once Callie was back lost in her music Jude decided to speak. "I was really little when my m- when Colleen died. I don't really remember her very well. Do you think that's okay?"

"Of course it is, Jude. It is also okay for you to ask Callie to tell you stories sometimes to help you remember your mother. We also don't mind if you still call her your mom. She also loved you very much and wanted to take care of you."

"Callie always said not to get attached to anyone other than her until this house. Your house, or I guess our house, is different. Do you think my mom would be okay with me loving you guys like I would love her if she were here?"

"Jude, we adopted you because we love you as our son. Any mom would be happy to know that their little boy was being cared for and loved that way when they could no longer do it. If something were to happen to me where I couldn't be with you, I know that Mom would do an excellent job loving all of you for me. I wouldn't mind." Lena looked back at Jude to make sure that he understood and saw an odd look on his face. "Oh, Baby, just so you know, I am not planning to leave you anytime soon… Are you scared about going to the cemetery today?"

Jude took a little bit to look at Lena. "No, Mama, not really scared exactly. I sort of know what cemeteries are like. I know how to deal with things because of Mom and Grandpa Frank." Jude looked at Stef to make sure that he did not make her upset and decided to continue when she looked fine. "Mom talks out loud to him sometimes. Is that what I am supposed to do today?"

Lena and Stef instantly came to the same conclusion. No one in the six years since Colleen Jacobs died had ever helped Jude or Callie process this loss. This could be critical step is really making these kids part of their family. With a quick look, it was determined to thread lightly.

Before Lena could speak, Stef decided this was a question she could field. "I didn't know that you heard me talking out loud to my dad, Buddy. You are right, though, I do it. When I miss him, I like to go off by myself and talk to him. It doesn't even have to be anywhere special. Everyone does things a little different, though. If you don't want to talk to your mom out loud, you do not have to. You could talk in your head, write a note, or just sit and think if you want."

Jude nodded. "Sometimes when I see you walk off, I follow you like the night I thought you might leave us. I wasn't meaning to listen, really, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. The first time I didn't understand, but Mari told me that you were talking to Grandpa Frank. Since then, I just like hearing what you talk to him about."

Stef knew that she had felt someone close by during many of those conversations. She wondered how many of her kids had seen her and was a little embarrassed. Stef also hoped that she had not said anything too personal in any of those discussions. Lena sensed her wife's discomfort and took the conversation back. "How about next time you follow Mom, you go and sit with her? I bet that she would love to have you hold her hand or put your arm around her more than having you sneak around."

"I kind of thought she wanted to be alone." Jude asked sort of confused. "Would it be okay if I did that sometimes, Mom?"

"Of course, Little Man. He was your grandpa and you could talk to him, too, if you wanted." Stef was a little relieved that Lena had suggested that because at least she would know when Jude was there. "Sometimes, though, I might just want to be alone. Is that okay also, Bud?"

"Yeah." Jude looked at the time and saw that it was close to eleven. "Mama, may I have a piece of paper and a pen? I would like to write a note to my mom to leave there today."

Lena handed him paper, a pen, and her cell phone with ear buds. "How about if you listen to some music on my phone for the rest of the trip while we talk to Callie for a little while? Sound good?"

"Sure, Mama. Thanks."

"For what, Jude?"

"For just being my mama. You guys know that we love both of you, right?" Jude seemed to assure them before putting in the ear buds.

"Of course, Buddy." Lena said patting his knee a little before turning to her daughter. Lena just looked the girl for a moment before reaching out to squeeze her knee a little. Callie looked up with calm eyes and removed her ear buds.

"I guess it is eleven now, Mama?"

"Yep, it is time for us to have a conversation. Jude's using my phone so he will not be listening. It is just you, me, and Mom here, Baby. Now, I was very pleased that you already followed through apologizing to my daddy. From that, Mom and I know you are making progress. When you first moved it, you continuously said you were sorry for things you could not change. Now, you are trying to make things right when you could have done better."

Callie acknowledged Lena's words with a small smile. "But you still want to talk more, so go ahead. I am listening."

"You are right, Baby, I do have more to talk to you about right now. We have never taken you to the cemetery before. I was not even sure this is what you wanted. Grandma suggested it and we all are headed that way now, but what do you think?"

"No one has ever offered to take us to visit her grave before. I did go there once on my own just to see for myself, but it has been a long time ago. I didn't ask you because the only time I asked someone to take me there, it didn't end well. No one wants to hear a foster kid talk about their dead mother."

"I guess that makes us different from the others then. We always want to know."

"Maybe I didn't really know I wanted to go there until Grandma gave me the flowers. Then it seemed right."

"Well, Sweets, when we get there, do you want us to come with you or do you want it just be you and Jude or maybe just you? What are you thinking?" Stef asked.

"Where will the others be?"

"We asked them to go figure out the spot for the picnic before they came. You will have some time alone if you need it."

"I hadn't really thought about it much. Maybe Mama could go with me and then you could follow with Jude in a few minutes? Would that be okay, Mom? I love you, too, but I just want my mama."

Stef and Lena shared a secret smile. "More than okay, Baby. Mama would love to go with you. Jude is writing a letter to leave if that is something you are interested in doing as well?"

Callie looked confused. "I wasn't planning on leaving a letter, but maybe. Is that what I am supposed to do? I thought you just talked out loud to your dad…."

"Do all of my kids know about that?" Stef asked not really angry, but annoyed.

"Stef, everyone knows you do that. It is a fine way to grieve and everyone is okay with it. Right, Cals?"

"Right. Honestly, I thought that is what everyone did. No one ever showed me how to deal with any of these feelings before you guys. Are there other ways?"

Lena turned around to smile at Callie. "There are as many ways to grieve as there are people. Mom talks out loud, but Jude preferred to write. You could sit and think, you could just talk about memories. We can cry together. To become a healthier person, Callie, you need to do something. We want you to always remember your mother, but you also need to let some stuff go. Just whatever you think would help you the best."

"Today, I just want to go there and see the gravestone and lay the flowers down. I want you with me to make me know that I am not alone. Jude needs to be there and I want Mom there to make him feel safe. Maybe the others could come next time?"

"So, there will be a next time, Bug?"

"I think so. Is that okay with you guys?"

"Of course. Anything you need, Sweets." Stef pulled in at the cemetery.

Jude started to hand Lena's phone back to her. "How about you just keep that for now, Bud? Right now, Callie and I are going to head that way. You and Mom can come in a few minutes. Is that okay?"

He gave her a half smile. "Sure. I am not quite finished yet anyway." Lena smiled back and started to walk away. "Mama?" She turned back to him. "Make sure that my sister feels how much we all love her, okay?"

"I will, Bud." Lena put her arm around Callie's shoulder as they headed to the right spot.

A few minutes after they left Jude took out his ear buds. "Hey, Mom, I am done writing now. Do you want to hear what I wrote?"

"I would love to hear whatever you want to say, Jude. If you want it to be private, though, that would also be okay with me."

"You share your thoughts about Grandpa Frank with me, so I want to share these with you." Stef nodded to give him the go ahead. "Dear Mom, I don't remember you very well, but I know that you loved me. I still have the picture of you holding me and I am going to get it framed so I can see it every day.

"Callie and I have a new family. It took six years, but I finally got adopted. I have a mom, a mama, two new brothers, and a new sister. I think you would like all of them. Now it isn't just Callie and me that are a packaged deal, we all are.

"I like to read, but I hate math. Callie told me that you liked to read. She says that you read to us every night when we were little. I didn't know that I liked to read until recently, but it is something we have to common.

"Mom and Mama say that it is okay to love them like I loved you. I hope that you think that is true. I still miss you, but I can see them every day. Mom is teaching me to play basketball and Mama tucks me in at night even though I am getting too old. They both give me lots of hugs and kisses because they love me, too.

"I miss you, Mom. Love, Jude Jacobs Adams Foster"

Stef looked over at her little boy with tears in her eyes. "That was beautiful, Buddy. Are you ready to go find Callie and Mama?"

Jude nodded and folded his paper into little sections. Jude and Stef started off the same direction as Lena and Callie had earlier. Stef put her arm around him and he leaned in close. It wasn't a far walk to find Lena and Callie. Callie was wiping away a few tears and still held the flowers. Jude rushed up to hug his sister and Stef put her arms around Lena. Callie took Jude's folded up letter and stuck it into the bouquet. She let Jude help her lay down the flowers before turning back to her moms. Stef opened up her arms and Callie slipped in and held on tight.

"I am sorry." Callie said quietly.

Stef looked down at her daughter and gave her a quick kiss. "Are you talking to me, Sweets?"

"Yes. I am very sorry, Mom. I was disrespectful to you this morning. I apologized, but I didn't mean it. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Callie Bug. Are you guys about ready for the picnic?"

Callie slipped one hand into Stef's and the other into Jude's as a response. Jude grabbed Lena's hand with his free one. Together they walked to the car.


	22. Chapter 22

**This is more of a light hearted chapter after a few sad ones, we are back to some fluff. Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

The rest of the family had the picnic set up so that as soon as Jude, Callie and the moms got there everyone was ready to eat. Brandon sorted the three types of sandwiches into piles. They had gotten a bit squished under the drinks. He was not sure how Callie would handle it, so when she arrived, he was trying to make the sandwiches fluff back up.

"What are you doing Brandon?" Callie asked with a giggle as she watched him pick up a baggie and try to pull the sandwich apart a little.

"Your sandwiches got a little messed up. They will still taste good, but they don't look perfect." Brandon replied eyeing Callie.

"I was wrong about what makes perfect earlier, B. I know what you were trying to tell me this morning. The day will be good because we are together. Sorry that I got all crazy on you this morning over things as dumb as sandwiches."

"No problem, Callie. Do you want to help pass them out to everyone?"

"Sure, B." The family started gathering on the blanket. "We have turkey, ham, and peanut butter sandwiches…."

XXXXX

Jude and Jesus were not able to finish all five of the extra sandwiches. Jesus offered to take all of the picnic gear back to the car. Jude chose to tag along. They came back each yielding a large water gun behind their backs. If Lena or Stef either one had not been engrossed in the conversation, they would immediately noticed the boys acting strangely.

Jesus walked over to one side of the blanket and Jude walked to the other. A signal passed between the two boys and they started firing. Unfortunately, Jude hit Stef first who immediately stood up and chased him down as the rest of the family (minus the grandparents who the boys had already agreed not to spray when they gave them the water guns that morning) scattered around looking for a place to hide. Sharon got out a camera and started taking pictures.

When Stef caught Jude she tickled him until he handed her his gun. "First lesson in gun safety, Little Man, don't ever willingly hand over your weapon." Stef said as she squirted him.

"But Mom, I thought if a police officer asked I was supposed to give it to them immediately…"

This earned him another little squirt. "You are correct, sir. Always listen to police officers and obey them. Even at home." Jude rolled his eyes and laughed a little. "Please don't become like the others and roll your eyes at me and my bad humor…"

"Mom!" Jude interrupted in a whisper. "I see Callie hiding over there by that tree. I could sneak up on one side and she might think I still have the gun. Then you could go on the other side and we could get her!"

"That's my boy!"

Stef and Jude snuck up on Callie. She did get distracted by Jude long enough to become drenched by the water gun. "Jude, you are my brother, why would you let that happen?" Callie said as she was also laughing.

Jude smiled and shrugged. "And she is your mother. She did it anyway. Our next target is Mama. Do you want to help?" He asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Wait, Little Man, I never agreed to go after your mama…." Stef started.

"You know that Jesus didn't spray her, Mom! We don't want her left out. Besides, she is right over there. So close to us. Please!" Jude gave Stef big eyes much like Mariana when she wanted something.

"Be careful there, Bud…."

XXXXX

Lena was behind a tree, although she was fairly confident that neither Jude nor Jesus would actually spray her with water. She was watching when Callie approached drenched. "Hey, Mama. I am needing a new place to hide. May I stay with you?"

Lena put her arms around the girl again. "You are always welcome with me, Baby."

Callie felt a little guilty, but knew that it would be okay. Jude came over next with his arms up. "I lost my gun, Mama. I know that Jesus won't spray you so I will be safe here, right?"

"Absolutely, sweet boy." Lena said as she extended an arm for Jude.

"Mama." Jude whispered. "Mom has my gun now and she is on her way over here. We were supposed to distract you so that she could spray you. It was my idea, but I feel kind of bad about it now."

"As you should, Bud. We can still make this right, though. If I make eye contact, she won't squirt me. Then, I will kiss her and she will let go of the gun. You grab it and run. Okay, Jude?"

"Okay, Mama. Mom is coming up from the left right now." Jude whispered to Lena.

Lena turned and looked at Stef who could not shoot her just as Lena said. Stef glanced over at Jude who in trying to look innocent looked very guilty. Callie was giggling, but would not look at Stef. Lena approached slowly and kissed her wife forcefully causing her to drop the gun. Jude grabbed it and ran just as Lena planned.

Jude and Callie ran back towards the other three kids who were collapsed on the blanket. All three had somehow become wet and the gun was currently out of water. When they saw Jude coming they all started yelling they were on base.

"I am not going to squirt you guys. I do have a good opportunity for you though." Jude turned to Sharon. "Grandma, did you load the other three guns?"

"Yes. I brought one for each of my grandbabies, they are all in the van. I just want to confirm that we aren't to be sprayed…"

"Of course not, Grandma! Thanks! Come on guys!" Jude yelled as he ran to the car.

They quickly followed him. He started handing out the guns. All of them needed to be filled up. Jesus got the idea to fill the guns with bottled water from the ice chest. "What are we going to do with these?" Brandon asked. "If we all have one who can we really attack?"

"We don't all have one, B. I know two people who don't have water guns. One of which is completely dry, the other was only gotten a little by Jude before she got the gun." Callie answered with a smirk.

"Oh, our lovely mothers. You guys do realize they will kill us if we get them wet, right?" B asked. "As the oldest I advise against this."

"Where did they go, anyway? I remember Mom chasing Jude and Mama running off, but then I was running from Jesus." Mariana questioned.

"Mom got the gun from me and we went and ambushed Callie. Then, the three of us went to get Mama, but I felt bad. So, she told us she would kiss Mom so that we could get the gun back. We left them there…." Jude said thinking about his statement a little more.

"Ah, so they are probably still behind that tree making out. So they are still distracted. We need to sneak in and surround them. I will give the signal and we will all shoot." They all agreed and headed to the area. "One more thing, don't look at Mama's eyes. She could make anyone of us drop our water guns and Mom will pick them up. Then we are all toast."

The grandparents saw the kids all sneaking and followed at a safe distance curious on how it would end. Indeed Stef and Lena were still making out near the tree. The kids surrounded them and Brandon gave the signal. All five of the kids sprayed Stef with water when Lena stepped back laughing. Lena started around the circle of kids. Each one she approached gave her their gun and she took the opportunity to squirt each one a little.

Stef saw what she was doing and got to Callie first. "Bug, I am going to need that water gun. Go ahead and hand it over nicely."

Callie eyed Stef and then saw Lena shake her head some. "I don't think I can give it to you, Mom. Mama says no."

"But I say, yes. Who are you going to listen to Callie? Keep in mind who is worse to cross… Mama might give nice cuddles, but I am the one who usually grounds you…"

"That makes my decision easier." Callie looked over at Lena and tossed her gun over. "You might pretend to be the bad cop and ground me, but Mama's disappointed glare is way scarier even with the cuddles. Sorry, Mom."

"All of my kids say that, but I just don't see how it is possible…."

"Honey, I am a vice principal. I have to be scary to kids." Lena smiled and looked at her children. "We can all thank Grandma for getting all of you guns even of the water variety. You all know my feelings on these and I thank you for giving them to me. Maybe you will get them back someday, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you." She looked back at her wife. "For the record, I am the only one no one here would squirt with water. Scarier. Definitely scarier." Lena handed the guns to her father who dumped out all of the water.

Stef walked over to Dana and grabbed her half-filled water bottle. "Are you feeling left out there, Love?"

"You wouldn't dare…" Lena said taking a step back.

"Or would I?" Stef was stepping closer holding up the bottle of water. "I would hate for you to be the only member of our immediate family not drenched with water today. It is very warm out here and all."

Lena kept backing up until she ran into Jesus which gave her an idea. "Kids, group hug around your mom!" All five kids ran toward Stef. Lena grabbed the bottle of water and dumped it on the group. "Now, who is ready to go on the zoo?"

The kids looked up to Lena and she could see glints of mischief in their eyes. "Now get your mama!" Stef yelled and all of the wet kids grabbed Lena pulling her into a hug. Stef joined the outside of the hug and Sharon took a few more pictures.

Lena gave kisses to her nearest kids. "Okay, for real, though, it is time we get to the zoo. The guns are going in the trunk of the car. We will not be getting them out at the zoo… I am going to take the van with my parents Brandon, Mariana, and Jude. Stef, you take the car with your mom, Callie and Jesus. Sound good?"

As they started walking to the car, Callie came up next to Lena. Lena casually slipped her arm around her daughter and Callie leaned into it. "Thanks for making such a great day so far, Love Bug. I know you probably are almost tired of hearing this, but I love you, Baby."

"Mama, I will never get tired of hearing that you love me. It has taken a long time to sink in, but I know it is true. I love you, too."

Lena kissed Callie's forehead before she got into the car. Callie smiled at Lena again as she put in her ear buds. Stef also smiled as she watched them. Both moms noticed right away how much Callie was like Stef. As a result, the two had formed a powerful bond from the start. More and more Stef saw her mini me running to Lena for comfort, even the night that they fought. This fact did not make her jealous, but rather it made her quite happy. Callie was adjusting to his household and opening up to her mama. She knew how much she herself needed Lena to smooth out her rough edges. It only made sense that Callie would need her just as much. After all, every Stef needs a Lena in order to remain balanced.


	23. Chapter 23

**Here is the second to last chapter of this story. **

Lena felt quite relaxed in the van driving to the zoo until her mother started talking. "Lena, I don't know why you took those water guns away from your children. They aren't real guns you know."

"I know they aren't real guns, Mom. They had fun with them before I took them. It is the principle of letting kids play with anything that resembles a gun that bothers me. Anyway, it was time to leave the park."

"So they will be getting them back? Good. You know, Honey, I noticed during lunch that your hair has gotten too long. Maybe I could schedule you an appointment at a salon?" Dana asked getting out her phone.

"No, Mom. My hair is fine. I like it a little longer now."

"Well, with it being so curly, it is just so hard to take care of. Or are you also trying to make it look like that now?"

Jude nudged Stuart. "Are Mama and Gram fighting?"

"Just a little bit, Buddy. Gram remembers when your mama was just a little girl and she took care of her. Now that she is grown up with five kids of her own, she doesn't want help from her mother. It is complicated."

"Mama could get her a dog. That helped once, right? Mama told us that story."

"Oh yes, Macie. We did love that dog and she did improve their relationship. I don't think it would work this time, Jude. What they really need is to stop and listen to each other a little bit better."

"Maybe some apologizing would help? When my moms were fighting that's what they did and everything was better." Before Stuart could stop him, Jude unfastened his seatbelt and moved up to the front part of the van. "Mama, I think that you and Gram need to…"

"Jude Jacobs Adams Foster why are you not in a seatbelt?" Lena demanded shocking Jude some. "Go back and sit down before I pull this car over."

"But Mama, I need to talk to you…"

"If I have to pull over the car you won't want to talk to me. Mom and I are certain that everyone has to be buckled in the car."

Jude moved to the seat behind Lena, but found himself on Brandon's lap. "Move, Jude. This seat is occupied."

"But I need to talk to Mama, Brandon. Switch me places!"

"Jude, go back to your own seat now!" Lena said much harsher than she intended as she was already tense from her mother.

"Lena Elizabeth, don't be so hard on him. You told me yourself that he is a sensitive little boy. You will hurt his feelings." Dana said.

"He is my son and I will talk to him however I would like to. Especially if he is doing something dangerous."

Jude had all he could take. He was back in his own seat so he had to practically yell to be heard at the front of the van. "Gram! My mama is wonderful. She is one of my most favorite people in the whole world. Mama would never talk to me the way you were talking to her."

"Jude-"

"Lena, I think your boy is right." Dana sighed. "Things are not always right between us. I was going to try harder on this trip, but I messed up. Lena, you are my only baby and sometimes I still treat you as such. I know you are a mother to five of the greatest kids I have ever met. You and Stef are doing such a great job with them."

"Thanks, Mom." Lena said with a smile. "You did a great job. Without you I would have no idea how to be a mother."

"Now Grams, you need to apologize to make things right."

Dana looked back Jude before turning to Lena looking repentant. "I am sorry, Lena. I am too hard on you sometimes. I know that you are capable and intelligent enough to make decisions for your family and yourself. I love you, Baby."

"Thanks, Mom. I am sorry that I didn't communicate my feelings with you earlier. I know that you didn't mean to hurt me. I love you, too, Mom."

"When we get out of the car, are you guys going to hug?" Jude asked hopefully.

"Sure, Little Man. Then we will also talk to your mother about wearing seatbelts in the car. I believe she has access to entire movie about it. Maybe she can bring it home from work and you two can watch it together tomorrow night."

"Sorry, Mama. It won't happen again. I just thought it was that important to have everyone getting along better since it is Mother's Day and all. You never know how long you have with your mom."

XXXX

Stef's car was fairly quiet which was surprising as she was hauling Jesus. Both he and Callie put in ear buds with their IPods moments after entering the car. Other than Jesus's occasional drumming, they were both silent. This gave her and her mother a great chance to talk without being interrupted.

Callie had closed her eyes and gotten so into her music that she drifted off to sleep. She woke up when she heard laughter. Not wanting to interrupt the moment, she kept her eyes closed, but turned her IPod off so she could hear.

"Do you remember that time your dad let you watch Nightmare on Elm Street while I was out of town?" Sharon asked still laughing a little.

"How could I forget, Mom? We were living on an Elm Street at the time. I didn't sleep the entire rest of the weekend. When you got back I ask if we could move houses."

"You even had all of your stuff packed up when you asked. You were so cute and earnest with your plea."

"I was serious. To this day I have never watch any of those movies again nor have any of my kids." Callie could not control her own giggling anymore. "It seems like we have an eavesdropper on our hands. Glad you are up, Sleeping Beauty. Now, tell me what you found so very funny?"

Callie blushed at being caught and removed her ear buds. "Well, you might not have seen any more of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, but I don't think you can speak for your kids. Remember the weekend you and Mama went out of town together? We all watched the first five of those movies together. They were so cheesy! Even Mariana and Jude thought they were funny."

By this time, Jesus had also removed his ear buds and was joining in. "Come on, this Freddy guy goes around killing teenagers in their sleep? Please… It sounds just like something you would tell us happens to kids who come in after curfew."

"And the blood was so fake. It was nothing like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Remember when we watched that one?"

"Yep. It was the best! The plotted sucked, but the violence and blood was amazing!"

"Never let your mama hear you say that! I am never leaving you guys alone again. Did you all watch it, too?" Stef asked shaking her head.

"No, only Callie and I watched it and you were home. We both happened to be up once in the middle of the night and a friend loaned it to me. So, we watched it."

"How did you both happen to be up at the same time in the middle of the night when you happened to be loaned a movie?"

Callie and Jesus both started laughing harder. Callie finally squeaked out, "Okay, so we planned it. No one else wanted to, so just the two of us watched it. We were both fine. Afterwards we both went to our rooms and slept just fine."

"Well, you guys are older than I was. Lena and I have watched several horror movies together, and none were her idea…"

"Stefanie, this may not be the time to remind you that you were fifteen when you and your dad watched that movie. Isn't that the same age as Jesus and just a year younger than Callie?"

That only made the kids laugh harder. Stef eventually joined in knowing that she would get them back later when she told Lena that they were sneaking around watching movies in the middle of the night. Not just any movie either, ones that she would never approve any of them watching.

Callie sensed Stef's thoughts. "Hey, Mom, if you don't tell Mama about our late night movie watching we will let you watch the next one with us…"

XXXX

Both cars arrived at the zoo and unloaded. Jude grabbed both Lena and Dana and watched them hug. Stef thought it was odd, but let it go. They walked up to the place to get their tickets. Since they were getting season tickets it was going to take longer. "Okay, so you need two adult tickets and five under twelve to eighteen year old tickets, Correct?" The lady asked them.

"Yes, and then we need three one day passes as well." Stef answered.

"I will need to take a picture of each of you who are getting the season tickets. The rest of your party can either wait or go to another window." Stuart, Sharon, and Dana found a bench to wait on as the kids lined up for their pictures. Jude went first. "What is your name?"

"Jude Adams Foster."

"Are both Adams and Foster last names?"

"Yes, but without a hyphen."

She typed in his information including his birthdate before she took the picture. "Are the rest of you also Adams Fosters?"

"Well, my wife and I are," Stef said, "but our kids are not all Adams Fosters."

"Okay, no problem. Who's next?"

Brandon, Jesus and Mariana all took their turns and joined their grandparents and Jude on the bench. Callie realized she was the only one left.

"So, let me guess, you are just an Adams or just a Foster? That seems to be the way things are going."

"No, she is actually…" Stef went to intervene after the scene Callie had made this morning about her name.

"I got this, Mom. I am actually both. I am Callie Marie Adams Foster, or at least I will be very soon. I would like that name used if possible."

Both moms smiled brightly as the lady typed in Callie's information and took her picture. After Callie walked on the lady addressed the two of them. "I am assuming that most of your kids are adopted, am I right?"

"All of them except Brandon. He was mine from a previous relationship. We adopted Mariana and Jesus when they were nine and we just got Callie and Jude within the last year. We recently got married and that's why the differences in last names."

"Well, you have a beautiful family. Congratulations on your marriage and your two newest kids. Adoption can be a difficult process for a whole family, it is commendable you have been willing to do it so many times." She glanced over at the bench where the rest of the family was waiting. The kids were interacting with each other and their grandparents happily. Every now and then one or more of them would giggle a little at something said. "I can see the love they have for each other and I cannot help but think it is a reflection of the love you have shown them."

"Thank you. We do love all of them. They invited our parents to spend the weekend with us and these year passes are one of their surprises for us. We feel very loved and blessed to have all five of them." Lena quickly looked over at her kids and blew a kiss before turning back to the women at the counter. "Do you have kids?"

"Yes. I have two girls. They are both grown up now with kids of their own. One lives in New York and the other in Texas. I will talk to both of them on the phone tonight, but we don't get to see each other much. Hold your kids while you can, because they will grow up too fast."

She took both of their pictures and got their information typed in. "Happy Mother's Day, ladies."

"Thanks! Happy Mother's Day to you, as well! Thank you for your advice also, I can already see them growing up faster than I would like." Lena replied.

The season tickets came with enough discounted tickets to get Stuart, Dana, and Sharon in for less money which seemed good after paying so much for the family's tickets. They determined on this visit to stay together as a family as much as possible knowing they had future visits to go off on their own.

Jude sidled up to Stef and she put her arm around him. Lena wandered over and took Stef's other hand. The other four kids walked a couple of steps behind with the three grandparents just after them. Sharon continued taking pictures knowing this was a day for memories.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N This is the last chapter of this one, but I do have some other plans. Thanks for reading this!**

"I will trade Jesus for Jude on the way home tonight." Lena said as they walked to the cars.

"Why would you want to trade your Little Man for anyone? I thought he was your boy?"

"He is our boy. I just thought you and your mom might need some reconciliation. Jude is very good at sensing that and facilitating it. Aren't you, Jude?" Lena asked when she saw Jude approaching them.

"Yes, but Mama could we not tell Mom about all of it…."

"Wait, not tell Mom about what, Jude?" Stef asked suspiciously.

He sighed. "Mama and Gram were fighting. I remembered how you guys apologized and made things right after your fight. So, I had to get closer to Mama and Gram, but I was all the way at the back of the van. All I did was take off my seatbelt and move up to right behind the front seats…"

"And got yourself in the middle of an adult discussion where you had no business being." Lena took a deep breath and looked back at her wife. "I appreciated his efforts with my mother and me, but I didn't like him unbuckling and wandering the car. I told him that you could bring a movie from work about the importance of wearing a seatbelt at all times. The two of you can bond tomorrow night while you watch it." Jude gave Lena a disappointed look even though he knew his moms shared everything. Then he joined his brothers and sisters.

"I would like nothing more than to impart that knowledge on our boy. At least that will keep the TV busy from the others." Stef commented. "Did you know that Callie and Jesus watch horror films in the middle of the night sometimes? Blood, violence, and all when we think they are sleeping. Speaking of which, if you making a car trade, I will want one also. I will give you Callie for Mariana."

"Great. I am okay with that switch. We can start taking the power cord for the DVD player upstairs at night. That should make it stop."

"We truly have great kids, Baby. I wouldn't ever permanently trade any of them for anything."

XXXX

The rides home were all but silent. After the long day everyone was exhausted. All three of the kids in Lena's car put in ear buds. Both of the ones in Stef's car almost immediately went to sleep. It seemed wrong to stop for a late dinner, but both moms knew their kids would be hungry before going to sleep for the night. Neither wanted to cook.

Lena wasn't fond of fast food, so she picked an Italian place she knew the kids loved. When the car stopped the kids seemed to automatically wake up and stretch. Jude and Jesus were excited by seeing they were going to eat. The others not as much.

"I am not very hungry. Could I just wait in the car?" Mariana whined. "This pasta is going to be full of carbs anyway…"

"I could just stay with her and sleep more." Callie added.

"Or I could just drive the three of us home while you guys eat. That way we could get our showers over before everyone else gets home. It is a school night after all." Brandon also tried.

"No, everyone needs to eat something. We will have plenty of time for showers when we get home. It is only eight."

"We could just eat the sandwiches left over from this morning, Mama. There were three of those and three of us."

"Not happening and that is final. You know what will happen if you keep arguing, yes?" Stef asked with her eyebrows raised.

All three quietly walked toward the restaurant to join the others. Once inside, everyone ordered. Callie and Mariana decided they could split something. As they woke up a little more, they also realized their mothers were correct that they were actually hungry.

Stuart suggested on the way out that he would drive the van with all five kids while the moms rode with their moms. Everyone adjusted seats again and soon they were on the way home. Now that the kids were full, they were back being talkative and animated in the car. Stuart enjoyed their company. He felt like he didn't have enough moments like these.

They all pulled up at the house. Stef met the kids getting out of the car. "It is a school night and I would like to get as many people through the shower as possible tonight. Jude, you need to shower first, Bud, because you need to go to bed first. Other than that, you all can work it out among yourselves."

Jude groaned a little, but then went into the house and got into the kids' shower. Brandon got into the moms' shower. While Sharon was downstairs talking with Dana, Stef, and Lena, Callie snuck up to her room and grabbed a shoebox out of her dresser. She then went into her mothers' room and found a piece of ribbon to tie around the box. Callie carefully placed the box in the corner of the room where it would be ready for later.

When Jude got out of the shower, Jesus got in next. Brandon was soon out and Callie took his place. When she came out, Stef and Lena were in their room and the time seemed right. "Um, Moms, I have something else for you. If you could wait just a minute, I think Jude should be here, too."

"Callie Bug, you have already given us the best day ever. You really don't need to do anything else. We love you just for being you."

"Thanks, but let me go get Jude." Callie found him in his pajamas brushing his teeth. As soon as he was finished she grabbed him. "We have one more present for our moms, Baby. I am giving them the box. Is that okay?"

Jude smiled at this sister and willingly went with her. "Of course it is okay, Callie. They are our moms now. We probably should have given it to them a long time ago."

Callie entered the room without knocking since she left the door open earlier. She grabbed her box from the corner of the room and set it down between Stef and Lena. "This is for you guys from Jude and me." Callie said nervously.

Both moms looked at the battered old shoebox hesitantly. Lena untied the ribbon and let Stef lift the lid. Inside, the box was filled with pictures, letters, and other documents from Jude and Callie's first years of life. "Last night you ask if there were more pictures. All the rest are right here in this box." Callie started picking up some of the pictures from the top. "This is Jude and me on my first day of school. My mom braided my hair that day sort of like you do. This one is my mom with me on the day Jude was born. And here is me as a baby. I think that is Donald holding me."

"I love that picture of you when you were a baby! Look at your hair! Such a precious baby… I wish we had gotten you right then, Bug." Stef commented as she pulled her daughter closer.

"But you wouldn't have been ready for me then. You would have had baby Brandon and not been looking to adopt another baby. When I was born, you and Mama weren't even together yet. Plus, I wouldn't have been ready to leave my birth mom, either. I didn't quite get ten years with her, but I wouldn't trade those years for anything."

"You are right, Bug." Stef held up a piece of paper with very little writing on it. "What's this?"

"I am not actually sure, but I have always thought it was going to be a letter to her parents. I found it on my mom's desk when we were leaving the house the last time. It has her handwriting on it so I kept it."

"I see. Is this your mom and dad's wedding license, Cals?" Lena asked looked at another piece of paper.

"Well, my mom and Donald's wedding license, yes. They were married just a few months after I was born." Callie thought for a moment. "I had never thought about it before, but I guess she couldn't marry Donald without her parent's permission until she was seventeen. I guess that makes sense. Also, we all know now that my father was someone else…."

"DNA doesn't make family, Sweetheart. We have built our family on love." Lena patted Callie's arm a little and pulled Jude closer. "Donald raised you and that made him your dad."

"How come he gave up his rights to me when he didn't even have them to give? Why didn't he tell us the first time he came to the house that he knew that he wasn't my father? Why did my mom never tell me the truth? Why didn't social services find my birth father before I went into the system? He was on my birth certificate!"

"Well, Honey, I am not sure if we can ever answer those questions. I would guess that Donald at least sort of thought he did have rights to you. He did raise you, like we said. You have his last name. I guess your paternity was not questioned when you went into the system and therefore they didn't go looking for another dad. As for your mother, it would be hard to tell your young child the truth on something like this. I imagine if she had lived longer she would have told you at some point. She thought she had more time."

Callie nodded and snuggled more into Stef as Lena spoke. Jude was practically on Lena's lap by now. "My mother did love me. I can see it in the pictures. Through every home we have been in, I have kept all of these things in this box. Whenever I am unsure about whether or not I was ever loved, I looked at the pictures to see my mother's face again. They gave me hope. That was another reason I had to go back for Jude my first night here; I had to leave the box with him."

"I can see that, Love Bug. I am glad you shared these pictures with us tonight. I would like to make a few copies of them before I give your box back if that's alright."

"No, Mom, I would like copies of some of the pictures back at some point and maybe some of the other papers, but the box is for you guys. I don't need it anymore."

"Callie, we talked about this last night. Having a connection to your birth mom is not a problem, in fact it is healthy. We are not here to replace her, we know we could never do that."

"I know, Mama, but I want you to have our past. Like I said, I used to look at those pictures and try to remember my mother and remember what it felt like to be loved. Now, I don't need the pictures to know that I am loved. I can just look at you and Mom." Callie looked at both of them again. "Last night you offered to get a frame for Jude's picture. I would like a frame for one, too, if that is okay."

Lena once again had some silent tears. "Of course, Baby. We can frame as many as you want." She thought for a moment. "How about if we get some copies made of these pictures and then we could work together to make a scrapbook for both you and Jude? We could write down some of the stories you remember about your birth family."

"You mean just you and me? I thought scrapbooking was one of those things you did when you wanted to be alone. Why would you share that with me?"

"It is an activity I usually do alone, but I thought it would be nice to scrapbook with my oldest daughter. If you want to, that is. I think you would be best to work with your pictures and you know your stories. Plus, after your outburst with my daddy this morning you are going to be grounded for at least two weeks longer. That should give us plenty of time to get started… What do you say, Bug?"

"I would love to scrapbook with you, Mama. Especially seeing how I will have a lot of extra time on my hands with being grounded and all." Callie gave Lena a small smile.

"Come over here and say good night, Cals. Then you need to go get the power cord to the Blu-ray player downstairs and bring it back up to us to prevent any temptation you or Jesus might have to watch a movie tonight."

Callie giggle a little and crawled away from Stef. She put her arms around Lena and received a kiss to her forehead. Stef caught her feet and drug her back over for another hug and kiss. The moms then turned to Jude and put him into a Mama sandwich before sending him to his room for the night.

After their two newest kids left, the moms continued going through the box from Callie and Jude. Knowing that this beat up shoebox represented Callie. This Mother's Day they received the best gift of all when she decided to be theirs.


End file.
